A clerk from Xiangping City came to greet them and convey Gongsun Du's wishes.
"My lord, Gongsun Du and his son want you to come to the banquet alone, without any soldiers. That's far too dangerous," Yan Rou said quietly.
Bai Xiaowen smiled. "I am the governor of Youzhou, and Liaodong falls under Youzhou's jurisdiction. Even alone, where could I not go?"
He turned to the clerk. "I can bring one attendant, can't I?"
"Of course," the clerk said at once.
In the Three Kingdoms era, men of status brought a few attendants even when they went to a banquet "alone." Guan Yu had taken Zhou Cang with him to Eastern Wu's Feast at Hong Gate, yet later generations still praised him for going armed and alone. No one quibbled that there had been two of them.
Yan Rou assumed Bai Xiaowen would choose him. Instead, Bai Xiaowen pointed to the black-robed woman behind him. "You're coming with me."
The woman acknowledged him and pulled back her hood.
A murmur of surprise ran through the crowd. Her hair and eyes were strangely colored, and she did not look like someone from the Central Plains.
"My lord, who is this...?" Yan Rou asked, puzzled.
Bai Xiaowen smiled. "This is the Crow Woman of Eastern Ying. A master of the Daoist Gate subdued her, and she now serves as my personal guard. With her beside me, I'll be safe."
The black-robed foreign woman was Delifa. Bai Xiaowen had summoned her in advance, and she had accompanied the army all along.
He had good reason to bring her forward now.
Bai Xiaowen's identity was Yuan Xi, the Yuan Clan's second son, not an unknown commoner.
If he wanted to play a part in the battles ahead, he would have to reveal his abilities.