Letting Go of the Battle
As the hour of You approached, the wind whipped itself into a frenzy outside the city walls. Dusk deepened by degrees until darkness swallowed everything whole.
They waited in silence for word from Huoshen Mountain and from the Longmu River.
Unable to calm her rising anxiety, Bai Jingyan stood atop the ramparts, her gaze fixed endlessly on the direction of Huoshen Mountain. The moment she thought she glimpsed a glow in the sky above it, her heart lurched into her throat. However she turned the matter over in her mind, there was only one answer — she had to go there herself.
She was just about to request Liu Hong's permission when a Jin soldier called out to her and pointed into the distance.
"General Bai!"
Bai Jingyan turned, following the soldier's outstretched finger. A lone rider was thundering toward them from the direction of Huoshen Mountain, a banner streaming behind, hooves kicking up billowing clouds of dust.
She held her breath, drawing her bow to full draw, and shouted.
"Palace guards, ready!"
Nuo Ping, too, raised his bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the far-off figure.
Though the rider carried a Jin banner, he was still too distant to be identified with certainty. There could be no letting down their guard.
A horn blared from the watchtower of Longyang City, and every soldier within the walls took up defensive positions, bracing to meet the incoming force.
Liu Hong rode over at the head of Jin's generals, climbed the watchtower, and peered out into the darkening distance.
"They look to be our own."
But Bai Jingyan did not ease the tension in her drawn bow, answering only with a steady, level gaze.
"We will see when he comes closer."
The two nations stood on a knife's edge. And with an enemy commander like Xun Tianzhang — a man who stopped at nothing — caution was the only wisdom.
The drum of hooves drew nearer and nearer. At the head of the charging column rode General Fu Yahei, splattered head to foot in blood, flanked by Lin Gangluo and Wang Xiping.
The riders following behind Fu Yahei carried two men to a horse — it seemed they had rescued the Jin soldiers trapped on Huoshen Mountain.
Even so, the entire city remained wound tight as a bowstring. Then Fu Yahei, leading the charge, lifted high the severed head of Gu Shanhai, a Liang general, and bellowed into the night.
"Major General Fu Yahei, returned from Huoshen Mountain! I bear the head of Gu Shanhai, general of Liang!"
No one had guessed Fu Yahei was such a fierce warrior. He had slaughtered a Liang general even in the midst of a rescue!
Liu Hong shouted with joy.
"Open the gates!"
Bai Jingyan descended the watchtower at speed, with Nuo Ping and the Bai family guards close on her heels.
Before the gates had even swung fully open, Fu Yahei, Lin Gangluo, and Wang Xiping rode through them. Fu Yahei dismounted and spoke urgently at once.
"Prepare food, quickly! Our brothers who were trapped on Huoshen Mountain have starved for days!"
Even now his expression was frozen with strain, as though he could not yet allow himself to relax. He watched Bai Jingyan striding swiftly toward him and raised his fist in salute.
"Your Highness — Liang reinforcements arrived without warning, and the Gaoyi County Princess led only a handful of men to lure them deep into the forest, all for the sake of the Jin soldiers she had held together for fifteen days. Liang has set fire to the mountain and encircled it from below. This humble servant is incompetent — I could not save the Gaoyi County Princess. Your Highness, I beg your forgiveness!"
"Your Highness, do not despair!"
Wang Xiping wiped the dust from his face as he spoke.
"Du Sanbao has taken soldiers up the mountain to search for her."
Bai Jingyan's grip tightened on her Sun-Shooting Bow until her knuckles whitened. A cold current swept through her body, chilling her spine to the marrow.
She ground her teeth and said nothing. Then, untying the weighted sandbags strapped to both arms, she mounted her horse in a single swift motion.
"Bai family guard! With me!"
"Yes, Your Highness!"
The Bai guards thundered their answer.
Gritting his teeth, Nuo Ping mounted alongside twenty of the household guard. Murderous fighting spirit rolled off them in waves as they readied themselves to follow Bai Jingyan toward Huoshen Mountain.
"Your Highness!"
Fu Yahei called after her, guilt crashing over him.
"Your Highness!"
Liu Hong's eyes went wide as he roared. Then he rushed forward, seized the bridle of Bai Jingyan's horse, and shouted.
"Your Highness! Liang has set the mountain ablaze! The Gaoyi County Princess cannot be saved! Even General Fu Yahei had no means to stop it — what difference will it make if you go? There is nothing there for you but death!"
"Is that why Du Sanbao and his men were left there — to be driven to their deaths?"
Bai Jingyan's eyes were cold as ice. Her hand closed hard around the reins.
Liu Hong clenched his jaw and barred the horse's path. If he let her ride to Huoshen Mountain now, she would die. He had to stop her.
"Your Highness is not Du Sanbao's equal in this. I am the marshal of Jin's armies, yes — but you are the one with a true commander's genius. You are the one who must be alive to craft the strategies that win our victories! Du Sanbao can afford to die. You cannot — not even a single misfortune can befall you!"
"Move!"
Bai Jingyan's fury finally broke its banks. Her sister had to be saved, now. Blood-mad, unwilling to waste another breath arguing, she cracked her whip and charged straight at Liu Hong.
"Hyah!"
"Marshal — look out!"
Fu Yahei threw himself over Liu Hong to shield him.
Bai Jingyan's horse leapt high into the air, clearing them both.
Before Liu Hong had even risen to his feet, he bellowed his order.
"Stop the Zhenguo Commandery Princess — now!"
At the marshal's command, soldiers threw themselves bodily across the gate, ready to die there if they must. Bai Jingyan's horse reared, forelegs pawing the air, and barely checked itself in place.
"If a man kills for private gain, then even a single death makes him wicked. But if a man kills a hundred for the sake of all the people under heaven, he is called righteous! So if my sister's one life could buy peace for the people of Jin, would that not be a worthy trade?
The Zhenguo King Bai Qishan, to hold the people of Jin and keep the army's hearts from wavering, shot and killed five of his own sons with his own bow! And yet Your Highness would ride out for a single person? Is that the conduct befitting the name 'Zhenguo'?"
Liu Hong scrambled up and came running at her, shouting until his throat threatened to tear, the veins standing blue at his neck. He seized her reins once more.
"Your Highness! Think of the greater cause! Think of the hundreds of thousands of souls along the border!"
"The marching strategy for Jin's campaign is already decided. Is General Liu Hong saying he cannot even follow the plan as laid out? Are Jin's generals so incompetent they cannot win a victory without leaning on a single woman?"
"Did Your Highness not tell me only this morning — the Bai family, the soldiers of Jin, myself, every one of us gathered here for one purpose alone: to secure the stability of the border and the peace of its people? The Gaoyi County Princess is no different! Do you truly believe she wants you risking your life for her sake? What she wants is for the swine of Liang to be driven from this land!"
Liu Hong pressed on without pause.
"Your Highness is a talent that appears once in a hundred years! Nothing, nothing at all, may be allowed to happen to you! To trade such a treasure for the Gaoyi County Princess — who may already be beyond saving — is that a bargain worth making?
The Bai family of Gaoyi — if one life can buy peace for her comrades, then a Bai would throw away their own life to honor that sacrifice! That is why she lured the Liang army into the forest! The Gaoyi County Princess, who shares so deep a bond with you, would never wish for you to walk into danger yourself!"
Bai Jingyan wrenched the reins with all her strength and answered.
"So now you wish to lecture me on righteousness? Then let me tell you what true righteousness is! The righteousness of the Bai army is this: we abandon no comrade who has crossed the line of life and death beside us. That is why the Bai soldiers hurl themselves into the fire without fear of death. They entrust their backs to their friends without a flicker of doubt! It is because of that trust that they will gladly walk into peril for the sake of the nation. That trust is why the Bai army has never stopped winning!
If it were not my sister trapped on Huoshen Mountain today — if it were any soldier of Jin who had sacrificed himself to save my people — I would go and save him all the same! This has nothing to do with good or evil. It has nothing to do with whether a life can be weighed and counted! It is a conviction. It is true righteousness!
A commander who would abandon one man on the battlefield may one day abandon ten thousand. How is such a man any different from Xun Tianzhang, who spends his soldiers' lives like they were worth nothing?"
At her words, the Jin soldiers who had just returned from Huoshen Mountain felt their blood ignite, though they could not have said why.
As soldiers of Jin, they had always envied the Bai army — the undefeated legend. But now they understood why the Bai army had always seized victory: because every soldier believed his comrades would never abandon him, because each man could entrust his back to the man beside him without hesitation, and because of that, they could throw themselves into a pit of fire without a second thought.
Liu Hong stood frozen where he was. Unbidden, the war song of the Bai army rose in his memory.
*Live together, die together.*
So that was what it meant — the bond of an army that abandons no comrade.
"Righteousness, you say? The one trapped on that mountain is my sister. I am her eldest sister! Protecting that child, Bai Jinchi, matters more to me than my own life! Even if my body is shattered beyond recognition, even if no one can find so much as my corpse — if it buys that child even the faintest hope of survival, I will go there gladly!"
Bai Jingyan clenched her teeth. Then, with a gaze solemn and razor-sharp at once, she swept her eyes over the Jin soldiers barring her way.
"I have no wish to cross blades with my own comrades. All of you — move aside! I am taking only the Bai family guard! If any man dares to block me, do not blame me for what follows! Now get out of my way!"
At that solemn, cutting command, the Jin soldiers parted to either side in a rush, clearing the road.
Liu Hong knew the spirit of the Bai army well. Watching Bai Jingyan show such iron resolve, he understood there was no stopping her — and stepped aside.
Bai Jingyan's impatience had reached its breaking point; the instant Liu Hong yielded the way, she spurred forward with the Bai guard streaming after her.
Liu Hong clenched his fists and bellowed after them.
"General Wang Xiping! Strip down to light kit and take your men to escort Her Highness! Keep both the Princess and the County Princess safe, do you hear me! Let go of all thought of battle — the moment the people are rescued, you turn back!"
"Yes, sir!"
Wang Xiping's eyes blazed as he thundered his acceptance. He cast off his armor and swung into the saddle.
"Soldiers of Jin! Any man who means to ride to Huoshen Mountain to rescue people alongside the Zhenguo Commandery Princess — shed your armor and mount up, now!"
"Yes, sir!"
The soldiers who had raced back in a daze from Huoshen Mountain stripped off their armor as one and answered loud enough to shake the sky.
There was no time to lose, and Bai Jingyan had already departed. Wang Xiping had not even a moment to count his men — most of the soldiers who had gone to Huoshen Mountain today were Lin Gangluo's palace guards, none of them under Wang Xiping's command, and tallying them would take far too long. Worried for Bai Jingyan, he decided to take only the soldiers who volunteered to follow.
"Liu Pinggao of the Grand Anping Camp! I lead the soldiers of the Grand Anping Camp to follow the Zhenguo Commandery Princess and General Wang Xiping on the rescue mission!"
The general of the Grand Anping Camp mounted his horse and led his formation out of the city.
"Wang Jin of the Flying Bear Battalion! I lead the soldiers of the Flying Bear Battalion to follow the Zhenguo Commandery Princess and General Wang Xiping on the rescue mission!"
The battalion commander of Zhang Danyue's palace guards, too, leapt onto his horse and shot out of the gates like an arrow.
More than two thousand soldiers mounted up in a thundering tide. At the sight, Liu Hong could not contain his astonishment.
When a general would not leave behind a single comrade who had fought and bled beside her — was it any wonder the soldiers beneath her banner threw their lives away in devotion?
There was a reason the Bai army would follow the Bai family into death itself without a moment's hesitation.