Chapter 4
Before long, the northern enemy invaded again.
The crown prince’s army and the Daughters’ Army advanced simultaneously, one taking the eastern route, the other the western.
The crown prince lost. The women won.
The enemy took two cities and drove straight toward our capital.
Two dispatches arrived from the front, saying entirely different things.
The crown prince wrote: “Father, Mother, please choose a princess to marry the northern king and secure peace.”
Xingyue wrote: “With Your Majesties’ permission, send provisions and fodder. I will return victorious.”
When those dispatches reached the palace, I went to the school myself.
I wanted the princesses to hear the truth about the circumstances women faced, both within palace walls and among the common people.
For all their precious royal blood, they were no different from those two women who had hanged themselves outside their tents.
Whenever men encountered a problem they could not solve, women were thrust forward as tools to secure an advantage.
The envoy spoke with tireless eloquence, beginning with the founding of the Daughters’ Army and ending with the crown prince’s proposed marriage treaty.
His account was vivid. The princesses’ faces grew darker as they listened.
The northern king was over fifty, old enough to be their father.
Yet without a second thought, the crown prince wanted to marry off one of his delicate young sisters.
At last, I dismissed the envoy and asked whether any of them wished to follow their brother’s advice and marry the northern king for peace.
“To exchange your own life for peace on the frontier and the praises of ten thousand people—would you be willing?”
The schoolroom was so quiet that a falling pin would have been heard.
After a long silence, the Third Princess suddenly bowed her head to the floor. “I am not willing! I wish to give up my studies and train in arms, to join the Daughters’ Army. Mother, please grant my wish!”
I did not answer her. I looked at the Fifth Princess.
She bit her lip hard and lifted her chin. “Those arches honoring chastity are built for dead women. I’m still very much alive. I will not spend my life carrying some monument to loyalty, filial duty, and virtue on my back. I will not marry him!”
Still silent, I turned to the Seventh Princess.
She considered for a long while, then said softly, “A marriage treaty need not be impossible.”
Her two sisters glared at her.
The Seventh Princess smiled gently. “Since our brother is so eager for a marriage treaty, let him be the one to marry the king. That would satisfy everyone.”
I burst out laughing. I tore the crown prince’s memorial to shreds and scattered them into the air.
Then I brought out Xingyue’s memorial and passed it around.
Only two short lines, yet the three girls studied them for a very, very long time.
They seemed to see the distant frontier and the fierce eyes of the Daughters’ Army.
I spoke slowly and distinctly. “Your cousin is willing to risk her life for you. If you hold power one day, will you stand behind her and help her women carve a path through blood?”
The princesses exchanged glances, still a little bewildered.
The Third Princess spoke. “Mother, please explain. What do you mean, hold power?”
I indicated the volumes on the shelves, one after another.
“Grand Tutor Pei placed first in the imperial examinations under the previous dynasty. When the crown prince proved unruly, he meant to retire to the mountains. Yet he agreed to return and teach you. Do you realize that everything he has taught you is the art of ruling?”
Astonishment and uncertainty filled their eyes. They looked at one another again, thinking.
“If women could one day become sovereigns,” I asked, “which of you would dare to try?”
“I would!” all three answered together.
“Are you confident you can take the throne from your brother?”
They bit their lips and said nothing.
I looked at them. “You’re afraid you can’t do it yourselves. Then have faith in your sisters beside you. Who said only one person could sit on the Dragon Throne?”