Chapter 88
Eldest Princess held Bai Qingyan’s hand tightly, turned her head, and looked at several daughters-in-law with a calm gaze. She said, “The first daughter-in-law, you and the second and third daughters-in-law will manage the household! Take good care of the fourth and fifth daughters-in-law! Guard the Bai family well!”
Mrs. Dong suppressed her grief and bowed toward the Eldest Princess, “Mother, rest assured. With us in the household, there will be no chaos!”
The Emperor’s biological aunt, Eldest Princess, and her granddaughter, accompanied by the common people, walked to the palace gate.
“Let’s go! We will go too! Follow the Eldest Princess to file a complaint with the Emperor for justice for the hero!”
“Let’s go! Together!”
The people were furious.
…
Eldest Princess gripped the ebony cane in one hand and held Bai Qingyan’s hand firmly with the other, walking forward with determination. Her voice was as if it came from the depths of a bell: “Kid, in forcing King Xin to his death, you were too impatient, too hasty, too reckless! Do you not realize that you are forcing the Emperor to kill his only legitimate son? Are you not afraid… that the public sentiment and grievance, while killing King Xin, will also become a sharp blade stabbing into your heart?! Ultimately… Kid, you still do not trust me as your grandmother, do you?!”
She held her grandmother’s already withered and trembling hand tightly and said, “In Dadu City, over a hundred people are marching with me. The military record bamboo slips have been made public. If the Emperor of Jin dares not fear the public’s opinion and heart, he can take my head! I have fought for the Jin Kingdom, and I am gravely injured and cannot have children! My grandfather, father, uncles, and brothers all died in the southern frontier. Under the clear sky and bright sun, I bet the Emperor does not dare to kill me…”
“Kid, as a daughter of the Bai family, if you do not have the courage and determination of a hero to cut off your own wrist, how can you talk about revenge?”
Eldest Princess paused in her steps, closed her eyes briefly, then kept walking. Her voice trembled slightly: “Kid, when will you understand that the living are the most important?! Grandmother… cannot bear to lose any more of you!”
The Eldest Princess’s voice was frail; her deeply wrinkled skin showed brown spots, reflecting her disappointment and worry.
From a distance, the guards outside the palace gate saw the road piled with snow on both sides and suddenly saw a group walking towards the palace gate.
The scene was grand and attracted attention.
The guards at the gate were on high alert. Some ran back to the barracks to inform the gate commander. By the time the gate commander hurriedly dressed and came out of the barracks, Eldest Princess had already arrived in front of Wude Gate with Miss Bai, Bai Jinxiu, Bai Qiying, Bai Qishan, and a crowd of people, all in mourning clothes.
The gate commander stepped forward to salute the Eldest Princess. After straightening, he asked, “Respectfully greeting Eldest Princess, may I ask why you are here…”
Before the gate commander could finish, Bai Jinxiu took down a drumstick and vigorously struck the drum…
The centuries-old, rusted climbing drum outside the palace gate rang out, startling birds inside the palace to take flight.
Eldest Princess, holding the tiger head cane, knelt tremblingly outside the gate. The gate commander, scared, also knelt down.
The Bai family’s daughters, along with the loyal servants and the common people, knelt behind the Eldest Princess, creating a grand and overwhelming scene.
At this moment, the Emperor, lounging in a soft couch, drinking tea and watching a delicate beauty play the pipa, faintly heard the drumbeat and frowned. He called out, “Gao Demao…”
The chief eunuch, Gao Demao, hurriedly entered and knelt, “Your Majesty…”
“Where is that drum sound coming from?! I can’t even enjoy a tune in peace!” The Emperor was quite displeased.
“Your Majesty, it sounds like it’s coming from the front. I have already sent a eunuch to investigate,” Gao Demao said.
Outside Wude Gate.
Bai Jinxiu knelt beside the Eldest Princess, holding the bamboo slip, and clearly, word-by-word, recited through tears…
Bai Jinxiu’s enunciation was perfect, albeit tearful, but she was very clear and fast, making it easy for everyone present to hear it distinctly.
Six bamboo slips, clearly just military records, but Bai Jinxiu’s varied intonation made people feel as if they were on the battlefield, surrounded by the sound of killing, flashing blades and swords, and splattering blood, in a life-and-death struggle.
The already traitorous Liu Huanzhang falsely reported that the grain supplies had just arrived in Fengcheng but were ambushed by Nanyan cavalry, with fifty thousand iron horsemen besieging the city! The food supplies were trapped, and without waiting for the Duke of Zhen’s orders, King Xin arrogantly commanded the Duke of Zhen’s son, White Cavalry General Bai Qiying, to lead forty thousand elite troops from Xinzhou for reinforcement.
The experienced Duke of Zhen suspected a trap, but King Xin threatened him with the Emperor’s gold medal and command arrow, forcing the Duke to comply. Later, scouts reported that Xiliang’s 250,000 main force lay ambushed in Chuanling Mountain, trapping Bai Qiying’s forty thousand elite troops.
Realizing he’d fallen into a trap, King Xin, filled with unease, forcibly commanded Bai Weiting to lead the main force to Chuanling Mountain to support Bai Qiying and annihilate Xiliang’s main forces. Bai Weiting suspected a ruse, but King Xin, ordered by the Emperor to supervise the battle, forced Bai Weiting to comply, threatening to accuse Bai Weiting of disobeying the Emperor’s orders if he didn’t.
Reluctantly, Duke of Zhen deployed troops, ordering General of Horse Bai Qijing to lead twenty thousand troops to bypass Feng County and attack Xiliang’s camp, with Vice Commander Bai Qishan leading five thousand elite soldiers to reinforce Fengcheng.
Bai Qingming and Bai Qingqi led ten thousand elite Bai family soldiers to garrison the Linggu Pass to assist all sides.
Bai Weiting personally led fifty thousand troops to Chuanling Mountain, ordering Vice Commander Liu Huanzhang to conceal eighteen thousand main troops in Black Bear Mountain to launch a surprise attack on Chuanling Mountain.
As Bai Weiting expected, his fifty thousand troops were ambushed, and Bai Qiying’s forty thousand elite soldiers were annihilated. Xiliang’s 450,000 troops awaited the Duke. Desperate, the Duke hoped for Vice Commander Liu Huanzhang to lead his troops to break through.
On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, Jin Kingdom’s army fought bitterly for three days; the fifty thousand troops were nearly exhausted, but Vice Commander Liu Huanzhang never came to aid them.
Xiliang’s chief requested to meet Duke of Zhen, telling him Liu Huanzhang had betrayed him for power, revealing all the Duke’s strategic deployments to Xiliang and Nanyan. Xiliang mobilized seventy thousand elite troops, and Nanyan forty thousand, intending to annihilate the Bai family’s army and break the Jin Kingdom’s spine.
Xiliang’s chief also told Duke of Zhen Liu Huanzhang had deceived the Bai family’s sons, capturing five of them. Now, he led troops pretending to be Duke of Zhen, attacking Fengcheng, causing the Jin Kingdom’s struggling forces to crumble and scatter.
Marshal Bai Weiting, hit by several arrows, ordered Tiger Camp warriors Bai Qinghui and Bai Qingyang to report the traitor Liu Huanzhang to King Xin and commanded the army to protect them at all costs.