The Eldest Legitimate Daughter is Both Beautiful and Valiant (ELDBBV) - Chapter 87

The Princess Dowager tightly gripped Bai Qingyan’s hand. Turning to face her daughters-in-law, her gaze calm, she spoke solemnly, “Eldest Daughter-in-law, the household is in your hands now, together with Second and Third Daughters-in-law! Look after the Fourth and Fifth Daughters-in-law! Protect the Bai family!”

Dong-shi swallowed her grief and curtsied deeply towards the Princess Dowager, “Don’t worry, Mother. With us here, the household will not fall into disorder!”

The Emperor’s own aunt, the Princess Dowager, took her granddaughter by the hand and, with the people of the capital following behind… They walked to the palace gates.

“Come on! Let’s go too! We’ll file a grievance with the Princess Dowager and demand justice for our heroes!”

“Yes! Let’s go together!”

The crowd seethed with righteous anger.

The Princess Dowager gripped her ebony cane in one hand and Bai Qingyan’s hand in the other. Her steps were firm, her voice resonant like a chime echoing from a bronze bell, “Ah Bao, you were too rash, too impatient, too hasty in forcing the matter of killing Prince Xin! Don’t you understand that you are pushing His Majesty to kill his only legitimate son? Aren’t you afraid… that this public anger and resentment will, in slaying Prince Xin, become a blade turned on you instead? In the end… Ah Bao, you still don’t trust your grandmother, right?!”

Bai Qingyan gripped her grandmother’s frail and trembling hand tightly and replied, “Over a hundred people from the capital are walking with me now. The six bamboo volumes of campaign records have already been made public. If the Emperor is unafraid of the people’s voice, if he dares to lose the hearts of all, he may take my head if he wishes! I once fought for the Jin dynasty and was so severely wounded that I can no longer bear children! My grandfather, father, uncles, and brothers have all died in Nanjiang! Under the bright sun and open sky, I’ll wager that the Emperor dares not kill me…”

“As a daughter of the Bai family, if I lack the courage and will to slit my wrist like a warrior, what right have I to speak of vengeance?”

The Princess Dowager halted. She closed her eyes for a long moment, then continued forward, her throat trembling, “Ah Bao, when will you understand that the living are the most important?! Grandmother… can’t lose another one of you!”

The Princess Dowager’s voice carried the weight of age, the brown spots and deep wrinkles on her face stark against the cold light, just like the sorrow and worry in her words.

The guards outside the palace gates saw from afar the large crowd suddenly approaching along the snow-lined road.

The scale was immense and impossible to ignore.

Fully alert, the gate guards dispatched someone to notify the gate commander. By the time the gate commander hastily dressed and emerged from the barracks, the Princess Dowager, Bai Qingyan, Bai Jintong, Bai Jinxiu, Bai Jinyi, Bai Jinrong all in mourning dress along with a crowd of common folk had already arrived in front of Wude Gate.

The gate commander came forward and bowed to the Princess Dowager, “Greetings, Princess Dowager, Forgive me, but may I ask why…”

Before he could finish, Third Miss Bai stepped forward, seized the mallet, and struck the drum with all her strength…

The ancient drum, rusted from centuries of disuse and neglect, echoed thunderously through the cold air, startling flocks of birds into flight within the palace.

The Princess Dowager, leaning on her tiger-head cane, knelt with trembling knees before the palace gates. The commander dropped to his knees beside her in fear.

The Bai family’s young ladies, loyal retainers, and gathered citizens knelt behind her, wave after wave like a rising tide, sweeping and overwhelming.

At this time, the Emperor was reclining lazily on a couch, sipping tea while watching a delicate beauty pluck at the strings of a pipa. His brow furrowed at the faint sound of drumming and he shouted, “Gao Demao…”

The head eunuch, Gao Demao, hurried in and knelt down, “Your Majesty…”

“Where is that drumming coming from? I can’t even enjoy some music in peace!” The Emperor was quite displeased.

“Your Majesty, this old servant believes it is coming from the front. I have already sent a junior eunuch to investigate,” Gao Demao replied.

Outside Wude Gate.

Bai Jinxiu knelt beside the Princess Dowager, bamboo slips in hand. She read aloud word by word with tears in her eyes…

Her pronunciation was flawless and clear. Though choked with sobs, every word was rapid yet enunciated clearly, so that all present could hear with perfect clarity.

The six volumes recorded nothing but military operations, yet in Bai Jinxiu’s emotional recitation, it was as though the listeners were thrust into the very heart of the battlefield with deafening roars, flashing swords, bl00d spraying, life and death hanging by a thread.

The traitor Liu Huanzhang had spread false reports that the rations had arrived at Fengcheng, only for the Nanyan cavalry to ambush the transport, laying siege with 50,000 men and trapping the food and supplies in the city. Before the Zhenguo Duke could issue an order, Prince Xin arrogantly commanded General Bai Qiying, Bai Weiting’s second son, to lead 40,000 elite troops from Xinzhou to reinforce the city.

The Zhenguo Duke had many years of experience in military affairs and suspected a ruse, but Prince Xin brandished the imperial token to force his hand. With no choice, the Zhenguo Duke could only consent.

Later, scouts reported that 250,000 of Western Liang’s main force were lying in ambush at Chuanling Mountain, waiting to crush Bai Qiying’s 40,000 soldiers.

Prince Xin saw that he had fallen into the trap and panicked. He forced Bai Weiting to take the full main force to Chuanling Mountain to support Bai Qiying and destroy Western Liang’s main forces. When Bai Weiting hesitated, suspecting a trick, Prince Xin, under the order of the Emperor, ordered Bai Weiting to fight. He threatened to accuse him of disobeying the imperial command, punishable by the extermination of nine generations.

The Zhenguo Duke Bai Weiting could only take a risk. He dispatched General Biaoqi Bai Qijing with 20,000 troops to bypass Feng County and raid the Western Liang military camp, while Deputy Commander Bai Qishan led 5,000 elite soldiers to reinforce Fengcheng.

Bai Qingming and Bai Qingqi led 10,000 elite soldiers of the Bai family army to station at Linggu Pass to provide support.

Bai Weiting personally led 50,000 troops into Chuanling Mountain. He ordered Vice General Liu Huanzhang to remain hidden at Heixiong Mountain with 180,000 troops and attack Chuanling Mountain when the time was right.

Just as Bai Weiting had feared, he led 50,000 men into Chuanling Mountain and fell into the trap. Bai Qiying’s 40,000 men were annihilated. Western Liang’s 450,000 troops now turned on the Zhenguo Duke. The Zhenguo Duke could only place his hope on his Vice General Liu Huanzhang to lead the army and fight to death.

On the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Jin dynasty’s grand army fought bitterly for three days. The 50,000 strong army was nearly exhausted, yet there was still no sign of Vice General Liu Huanzhang coming to their aid.

The Western Liang commander requested to meet the Zhenguo Duke Bai Weiting, and said that Liu Huanzhang, for the sake of power, had already betrayed the Zhenguo Duke Bai Weiting. He had fully revealed the marshal’s troop deployments and formations to Western Liang and Nanyan. Western Liang, with the might of the entire nation, dispatched an army of 700,000 soldiers and Nanyan too mobilised 400,000 elite soldiers. This time, they were determined to completely annihilate the Bai Family Army and the Bai family members, to break the backbone of the Jin dynasty.

The Western Liang commander also told the Zhenguo Duke that Liu Huanzhang had used the Zhenguo Duke’s name to lure in the sons of the Bai family, and captured five of them. Now he had led troops to flee, claiming that the Zhenguo Duke had turned treasonous and turned around to attack Fengcheng directly. The Jin army, which had still been struggling desperately, immediately lost its morale upon hearing this news and like a flock of sheep surrounded by a pack of wolves, they no longer had any strength to resist.

Marshal Bai Weiting was shot by several arrows. Before his death, he ordered the Tiger Battalion’s Bai Qinghui and Bai Qingyang to carry the military records to report in person to Prince Xin, to inform Prince Xin to guard against Liu Huanzhang’s betrayal! He ordered the entire army to spare no cost in opening a bl00d-soaked path for the two men.