Truce
It was the hour of the tiger, between three and five in the morning, and the Liang soldiers standing watch atop Longyang City's walls had begun to grumble. Even the supply camp was out there scouring every corner for treasure, while they had no choice but to stand in the pouring rain and guard the city.
How magnificent must the beast statues adorning the mansion of the wealthiest merchant under heaven be? Pry out just a single gem from one of them, and a man could go home and buy his mother a proper filial life. He could even take a wife.
"Enough. Quit your complaining. General Xun has us here—what can we do about it? The good pickings are never ours. Only when there's a life on the line do we ever get sent charging to the front!"
The Liang soldier let out a sigh and gazed into the distance.
"Wait—what is that? What is that over there?"
"It's pouring rain—what could you possibly be seeing?"
Still joking, the soldier craned his neck and peered in the direction his comrade was pointing.
A vast dark mass was bearing down on them through the torrential downpour. It looked like a startled herd of cattle, driving before it the roar of a flood with unstoppable momentum. A colossal torrent swept up broken branches and boulders as it came surging toward the walls at breakneck speed.
The flood, arriving with terrible urgency, began slamming against the city gate and the walls with savage force. Water poured rapidly through the gaps in the gate, and the sound of the impacts was enough to pierce the ears.
"F-flood! It's a flood!"
The Liang soldier screamed and frantically blew his whistle.
The defenders turned toward the city and roared with all their might.
"Flood! There's a flood!"
But the voices of the men were swallowed whole by the drumming rain and the thunder of the water. Boulders and branches churned within the advancing flood, hammering the heavy city gate again and again—it looked as though the gate would give way at any moment.
The defenders scrambled down from the battlements and bolted toward where the Grand Marshal was quartered. By the time they descended below the walls, the water was already up to their waists and still rising fast.
Longyang City's walls stood a mere two zhang high. At this rate, they too would soon be swallowed.
"Flood! Flood!"
The defenders screamed in every direction.
Only then did the soldiers hunting for treasure inside the So family's mansion notice that the water was climbing at an alarming rate. In the time it took to exchange a few words, it had already reached their knees, and it kept rising. Beneath the pounding rain, the faint strains of whistles and war drums drifted through the air. Any but the dullest of men would have sensed by now that something was terribly wrong.
As soon as Zhao Sheng arrived at the quarters where Xun Tianzhang was staying, he heard the whistles and drums sounding from the direction of the walls—muffled beneath the roar of the storm, but audible all the same. The Grand Marshal jolted awake at the sound.
"What is it?"
Xun Tianzhang's voice carried from inside the room, and the guards stationed below scrambled hurriedly up the stairs to answer. Zhao Sheng rushed in after them.
"Grand Marshal! Disaster! It seems the Jin army laid a trap for us. Not a single civilian in the city—meaning they must have evacuated the people long ago. They appear to have seen through our plan to drown the Jin army. We must get out of the city at once!"
Xun Tianzhang forced himself to stay calm.
"What is that drumming from the gate? What does it mean?"
"Father, we haven't confirmed it yet. I've already sent men to find out."
Xun Tianzhang's son replied.
Xun Tianzhang's heart began to pound. He pulled on his boots as he spoke.
"Assemble the men. Now. We're leaving the city!"
The man Xun Tianzhang's son had dispatched to the gate heard the crash of blows hammering the door the moment he stepped onto the street. Before he could react at all, the gate burst wide open and hurled him against the wall.
The onrushing flood poured into the city like a pack of wild beasts, crashing and careening in every direction. The roar of churning waves slamming into buildings and walls tore at the ears.
"The flood! It's the flood!"
The deluge that had surged through the gate swallowed whole any soldier too slow to flee.
From their vantage on the mountain, the Jin soldiers watched the lanterns of Longyang City go out one by one, confirming the flood had struck. Before long, a city that had blazed as bright as day was plunged into darkness, as if ink had been poured over it.
Fu Yahei stood with a death grip on the sword at his hip, and his chest felt hollowed out by sheer, exhilarating relief.
"I can hear it—the wailing of the Liang army! What a glorious sound!"
They say a flood is a savage beast. Even the strongest swimmer could never hope to survive a torrent like this. Never mind the rocks and trees churning within it—the water's surface was a churning chaos of everything the city had held, furniture and bedposts and all, swept out into the current.
Bai Jingyan had never imagined Xun Tianzhang harbored such a vicious design. Longyang City's walls stood only about two zhang tall, and to drown them, the dike's breach had to be cut wide. Judging by the sheer fury of the current, Xun Tianzhang had intended to bury the Jin army here from the very moment he ordered the siege trenches dug.
And that wicked intent had come home to roost upon his own head. He had reaped exactly what he had sown.
Dawn broke, but the downpour showed no sign of letting up. Beneath the mountain where Bai Jingyan's party was encamped, corpses swept along by the flood drifted in slow, bobbing circles.
Longyang City had sunk utterly beneath the waters.
A vice general who had been watching the situation spoke up to Bai Jingyan.
"General Bai, the city is fully submerged—we should withdraw! If this rain continues, the water will keep rising. We must prepare for every contingency."
Bai Jingyan nodded. There was no need to beat a drowning dog.
"Withdraw!"
she ordered.
Tianlan Mountain.
As they drew near Tianlan Mountain, the rain gradually eased. The Jin army encamped on the flat, open high ground and joined forces with the reinforcements that had arrived from the imperial capital.
Liu Hong stood at the entrance to the Grand Marshal's tent, watching the rain fall in sheets, turning Bai Jingyan's words over in his mind.
If the remnants of the routed Liang army fleeing from Longyang City were left alone to run to Fuwen City, unchecked by any ambush along the way, there was a strong chance they would link up with Liang's reinforcements there. Then they would be forced to fight a war of attrition against a Liang that had replenished its troops—and with the Jin forces so badly depleted in the Southern Border campaign, the odds would be against them.
After long deliberation, Liu Hong clenched the hands that had been clasped behind his back into fists and barked his order.
"Bring me General Lin Gangluo!"
Shortly after, Lin Gangluo entered the Grand Marshal's tent.
Liu Hong laid out the strategy Bai Jingyan had devised. Lin Gangluo was silent for a moment, then answered.
"I believe the right course is to follow General Bai's strategy! In the Southern Border war, General Bai's judgment never once proved wrong. I trust her. If you will permit it, Marshal, I will personally lead troops around the Longmu River and lay in ambush between Longyang City and Fuwen City."
With Lin Gangluo in agreement, Liu Hong saw no reason to hesitate any longer.
"Take twenty thousand men! And if Xun Tianzhang still lives, I want him taken alive!"
"I shall carry out your orders!"
Lin Gangluo answered.
Only after day had fully broken did Bai Jingyan and Fu Yahei return to camp.
The Grand Marshal, Liu Hong, had fallen straight asleep after ordering General Lin Gangluo to lay his ambush between Longyang City and Fuwen City, and hearing this, Bai Jingyan did not go to see him.
If they crushed the fleeing Liang remnants, the recapture of Fuwen City and Chunmu City would come easily. The war would soon be over, and she could take Jinchi and Shen Qingzhu home.
Bai Jingyan went into the barracks to check on Bai Jinchi and Shen Qingzhu, but neither had yet regained consciousness.
When Bai Jingyan entered, Ji Nanghua—who had been applying salve to Shen Qingzhu's wounds—started up in alarm. Seeing Bai Jingyan soaked to the bone, she moved with urgent purpose.
"Eldest Miss! I'll bring clean clothes at once. Are you hurt anywhere? May I examine you?"
"I'm fine."
Bai Jingyan looked over Shen Qingzhu and Bai Jinchi, then stripped off her armor and her drenched clothes and shoes behind the folding screen. Her white undertunic clung to her skin, refusing to come free.
Ji Nanghua used a small knife heated over the fire to peel the fabric away from her skin a little at a time. When she saw the places where the blade's edge had turned the flesh raw, she squeezed her eyes shut. Holding back tears, she applied the salve, then wrapped Bai Jingyan's wounded legs snugly in soft cloth.
Because Bai Jingyan always showed herself so unyielding, everyone called her an invincible legend—but in truth, this woman's body was a map of scars. Old wounds and new ones crisscrossed one another, a sight that made the skin crawl just to look upon.
Ji Nanghua's eyes reddened as she helped Bai Jingyan into fresh clothes.
"Let me put some salve on your hands as well."
"Don't trouble yourself. You've been run ragged looking after Jinchi and Qingzhu—go get some rest."
Bai Jingyan said as she dressed, but Ji Nanghua shook her head.
"If I stay here, I can tend to Fourth Miss and Lady Shen the moment they need me. You're the one who should go rest, Eldest Miss."
Bai Jingyan did not press her. Clean clothes on, her body felt lighter by far.
She was picking at a light meal of warm rice porridge when Bai Jinchi, still lying on the bed, suddenly cried out in her sleep—"Eldest Sister!"—her voice cracking with terror. Bai Jingyan's heart twisted at the sight of her, and she rushed back to the bed, took Bai Jinchi's hand, and answered gently.
"I'm here, Jinchi. I'm right here!"
At the sound of Bai Jingyan's voice, Bai Jinchi's rigid body seemed to slowly loosen. She gripped Bai Jingyan's hand tightly and would not let go.
Bai Jingyan laid her palm against Bai Jinchi's forehead. There was a low fever, but nothing severe. She had simply been badly frightened.
Bai Jingyan had been on her way to save Bai Jinchi, thinking that once she laid hands on that reckless, foolhardy girl, the very first thing she'd do was slap some sense into her. But now, looking at her sister, all she felt was her heart tearing open.
Gazing at the gashes the branches had left on Bai Jinchi's face, Bai Jingyan took her sister's bandage-wrapped hand gently in her own. Merely recalling what had happened made a chill run down her spine; fear rose up ahead of everything else, and she did not want to think about it any further.
Had she been even a little later, something she could not bear to imagine would have come to pass.
By fortune, she had not been late.
Never again will I leave the people I love in another's hands. Never again—not ever.
"It's just a fever from the fright. She'll be all right. Lady Shen's condition has settled a great deal too. She's worn herself to the bone, so she can't stay awake—but after a day or two of deep sleep, she'll be herself again."
Having soothed Bai Jingyan's heart, Ji Nanghua turned her gaze to Shen Qingzhu's face.
"But I think Lady Shen should return home to recuperate. Even if the war continues, she can no longer fight."
Bai Jingyan nodded and answered in a tone that was plain, yet utterly certain.
"The war will end soon."
It was as if Bai Jingyan's words had been a prophecy. With Longyang City swallowed by the flood, Xun Tianzhang's son drowned in the deluge, and Zhao Sheng—fleeing to Fuwen City alongside the routed soldiers—was captured alive in his attempt to spirit the Grand Marshal to safety.
The great Jin army retook Fuwen City and Chunmu City one after another, and when the news reached the Liang capital, the Liang Emperor was thrown into shock. In the Liang court, an endless debate raged between the ministers who demanded the war be pressed to the bitter end and those who argued for peace.
The Emperor of Jin moved swiftly, dispatching the special envoy Liu Yushi to Liang with a proposal of peace extended before anyone else could act.