Chapter 71: An Inch of Rivers and Mountains, an Inch of Peril

"A-Duan, don't shoot, this isn't Kuizhou!"

Fang Chongyong saw A-Duan nocking an arrow, about to shoot at a galloping bandit, and quickly grabbed hold of him, growling in a low voice.

Countless examples prove that caution ensures a long voyage. Hence the saying: the older one grows in the jianghu, the smaller one's courage becomes.

Those sensitive to changes in their circumstances tend to live longer.

It must be said that Dugu Jun, with his experience serving in border garrisons, was right. Fang Chongyong was surprised to find that those people could not even be bothered to acknowledge them, passing straight along the main road without so much as sending someone to glance at their tiny camp.

In late spring, the night wind still carried a chill, and a chill lingered in Fang Chongyong's heart as well. According to Dugu Jun, this area fell squarely within Tang military control and was not within the Tibetans' planned zone of attack.

Why say so? Because the Tibetan strategy against the Great Tang was one of flanking encirclement. They would first nibble away at the Hexi Corridor step by step, severing the Anxi Protectorate and the Beiting Protectorate from their links with Longyou.

Then they would strike from two directions—Jiannan and Longyou—with the ultimate goal being Guanzhong.

Toward Tang forces in the Western Regions, the Tibetans focused mainly on siege and blockade, in no rush to conquer.

Whatever their approach, they had no reason to strike here first. Not only was it far from their supply lines, but the Tang garrison strength in this frontier was thin, and targets worth raiding even fewer.

If everything was truly as Dugu Jun described, then the answer was already obvious.

In an area under firm Tang military control, with scarcely any foreign tribes nearby, there was no soil for foreign bandits to take root.

Foreign bandits did not simply materialize out of thin air. Though their numbers varied, they were invariably men who had come out from the surrounding foreign tribes—superb horsemen, skilled in mounted combat, sweeping in and out like the wind.

They obtained wealth through plunder, then fenced the loot through tribal channels.

Why did Sogdian merchants fare so well in the Western Regions? Because they dealt not only in goods from legitimate channels but also handled fenced merchandise—the foreign bandits needed them too.

Having reasoned through all this, the answer was already clear: those who had just passed by were Tang soldiers not wearing uniforms! Their objective was also unclear.

But from the torchlight illuminating their motley clothing, it was evident that this sortie was definitely "private business."

These men maintained tight formation, not falling into disorder even while galloping—as though the four characters "Tang Border Army" were carved right on their foreheads.

Where would one find such well-trained foreign bandits? If they truly existed, who would dare travel the Silk Road? The Chishui Army might as well forget defending against the Tibetans and go suppress bandits first.

"Brother Dugu, those are Tang soldiers."

Fang Chongyong said with a solemn expression.

"Do not meddle."

Dugu Jun raised a hand to stop Fang Chongyong from continuing. Clearly, he knew certain inside details. At the very least, he had certainly witnessed similar incidents before.

"Put out the fire!"

Dugu Jun ordered the head guard.

Soon, the surroundings sank into pitch darkness.

The entire party waited with their hearts in their throats. From afar, the sounds of combat seemed to echo, and screams reverberated through the valley without fading—apparently not far from where they were.

Perhaps half a shichen, perhaps a full one—in any case, everyone waited in agony, and no one bothered to reckon how much time had passed.

That band of riders began returning in orderly fashion, the stench of blood wafting over. Fang Chongyong frowned slightly and said nothing, only watching coldly as this group of "foreign bandits" departed.

By torchlight, it was visible that compared with when they came, every man's horse was now laden with bolts of cloth that glinted golden. It required no thought at all—the only fabric on the Silk Road worth raiding for, aside from silk, could not possibly be anything else.

"A prosperous age is only prosperous for the state. For the individual, a prosperous age does not mean freedom from misfortune.

One cannot contend with Heaven!"

Dugu Jun sighed with emotion.

These words drifted on the wind—who knew whether those "foreign bandits" heard them or not. In any case, no one in their party paid any attention to this group.

Bandits played by Tang soldiers were still bandits. And bandits had their professional code: they were not slaughterers, let alone men who killed for pleasure.

Their purpose was clear: rob, then fence the loot.

In the eyes of that band of robbers, Fang Chongyong's party was as insignificant as insects—not even worth sending someone to check on.

If they checked, they would have to kill these people, which would leave more traces; then they would have to risk eliminating those traces that could lead back to them. In the process of erasing old clues, new ones might be left behind, turning a minor matter into a catastrophic affair with bodies piling up and boats capsizing.

And if they did not send anyone to check, Fang Chongyong's group, from a distance, could not make out anything amiss anyway. So avoiding complications was the safest course.

Fang Chongyong perceived that these "foreign bandits" were well-trained and efficient—this was certainly not their first time doing such a thing. For all he knew, these Tang soldiers disguised as foreign bandits were already "repeat offenders."

Thinking of how "wild" the Tang border army in Hexi conducted itself, he truly broke a cold sweat for Wang Zhongsi.

"We'll discuss everything after dawn. Do not light any fires!"

Dugu Jun ordered in a low voice.

By now the bright moon hung high in the night sky, pristine as new. Unfortunately, not one of Fang Chongyong's party was in the mood to admire that beautiful moonlight.

The mountain ranges of the Hexi and Longyou region offered no shelter—the hills were covered only in low scrub, and when the wind rose, it howled like vengeful ghosts. Fang Chongyong's party of a dozen-odd people spent the night like rats hiding from a natural predator, cowering in their crude camp and shivering in the cold wind all night long.

When the sun rose the next day, they truly felt that they had just walked past the gates of hell.

No complications had arisen after all! It was good to be alive—who knew which of their ancestral graves had sent up a wisp of auspicious smoke.

The romance of the Hexi Corridor—"a lone plume of smoke rising straight in the vast desert, the round sun setting over the long river"—was not unworthy of admiration, but there was one essential prerequisite: one's own head still had to be attached to one's neck.

Watching the morning sun slowly rise above the horizon, Dugu Jun stood up and said with a solemn expression: "We set out at once. There is no time to lose. We cannot yet be certain that those bandits will not turn back."

"No!"

Fang Chongyong raised his hand and flatly refused.

"All of you wait here for me. A-Duan, come with me to the east to take a look. I want to know which caravan of merchants was slaughtered."

Fang Chongyong's attitude was resolute, which left Dugu Jun somewhat bewildered.

Your father is a Military Commissioner, and your father-in-law will soon be one too—did he really need to risk his life like this?

Even a cat with nine lives was no match for that damned curiosity!

"Uh… worthy brother, the victims are indeed worthy of sympathy, but this seems to have little to do with us."

Dugu Jun said, his expression somewhat uneasy.

He had already guessed what Fang Chongyong intended to do. But youthful ardor was a fine thing; recklessness was not.

To speak for the dead, to seek justice for the dead—this was the most foolish and ignorant thing in the world!

Those who sought justice for the dead were always pursuing the interests of the living! This principle had been played to death!

Last night, were those Tang troops bandits?

Yes, but that's only one of their identities.

They also have another identity: they are frontier guards who defend the home and country!

When fighting the Tibetans, they were the first to charge! If you think you can do it, when the Tibetans attack, you go first!

These incidents of plundering barbarian merchants happen many times each year, so many that Liangzhou Prefecture doesn't even bother to record them; basically they're all headless cases.

Matters that neither Liangzhou Prefecture nor the Hexi Jiedushi care about—you stick your neck out for them; is that really interesting?

Young hero, you can't just go about it like that, can you?

"When they robbed Sogdian merchants, we pretended not to see."

"When they robbed Uyghur merchants, we again pretended not to see."

"When they robbed Turkic merchants, we still pretended not to see."

There's no wall that doesn't let wind through; when the day comes that the Tibetans fight us, you'll find that no one is left on our side.

"The reason rules can become rules is that justice is the most important!"

Fang Chongyong looked at Dugujun solemnly and said.

Seeing the other still dazed, he continued to emphasize:

"The guards protecting the trade routes shouldn't turn into bandits who block and kill."

"We are the initiators of the Silk Road; this road arose because of silk, benefiting all the countries of the Western Regions. So when the Tibetans come, almost all the Western Region countries are willing to cooperate with us in resisting the Tibetans. The sage's orders can get a hundred responses with a single call in the Western Regions."

"Because the Tibetans can't provide the silk they need, they can only stand on the Tang's side."

"But if the Tang frontier troops participate in plundering, how would they be any different from the Tibetans? By then, could the Tang's governance in the Western Regions still be maintained?"

"Will the peoples of the various Western Region countries still take the sage's summons seriously?"

Upon hearing these words, Dugujun couldn't help but feel solemn respect!

He sincerely admired him, clasped his hands in a salute, and said: "No wonder you're the son of the renowned Jiedushi Fang; these words are truly eye-opening. Your single remark, worthy brother, has cleared my confusion. I'll go with you now; if we reach Liangzhou City, I can also serve as a witness."

"Hmm, then let's go together."

Fang Chongyong nodded slightly and said, a stark contrast to the boy who last night was too frightened to move.

His insistence on investigating this matter is certainly not for such noble reasons.

If the frontier troops' ruffians are only in it for money, then they're not far from mutiny; perhaps all they need is a trigger, and they could become the arrogant, domineering soldiery of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

Can we expect the Tang frontier troops, who dare to rob passing merchants, to fight desperately against the Tibetans?

Fang Chongyong doesn't believe that.

He is in Hexi; if he doesn't pay attention to this matter, it's like burying a huge hidden danger right beside himself!

After Dugujun left five guards to watch over the wagon, horses, and other valuables, he led the others along the dried bloodstains on the ground, following the riverbed.

The waters in the Hexi Corridor are almost all "weak water"—that is, water that can only supply human life and production, not serve as a navigation channel. Soon they found dozens of corpses in a meandering stretch of such weak water.

These people were not merchants but unmistakably monks. Each was bald-headed, and even their "three robes" had been stripped off, leaving them stark naked.

Under the sun they looked extraordinarily horrifying.

"They were that group of Indian monks."

Fang Chongyong sighed and said, we had encountered this group on the road before and chatted with them for a while.

But this group spouted Buddhist doctrine, their Chinese was poor, making communication difficult; later, although we occasionally ran into them, there was no interaction between us.

Fang Chongyong and company merely knew that these people, in order to spread Buddhism, had had a large batch of silk robes made in Chang'an; not only silk, but they also contained gold thread, which glittered all along the road and was quite eye-catching.

At that time, Fang Chongyong felt their conduct was too flamboyant, that trouble was bound to happen, and he advised them a few times, but the monks didn't take it to heart.

Probably they thought this was also a form of cultivation.

Unexpectedly, after just one night, this group was slaughtered to the last man by Tang troops disguised as bandits.

"Let's go; there's nothing to see here. Similar incidents in Hexi are not isolated. As long as we keep ourselves safe, praying to gods and buddhas and thanking heaven is all we can do; we really can't bother with too many trivial matters."

Dugujun said with feeling.

That group of Indian monks suffered terribly, but there was nothing to be done. That's how the world is; the dust of the era pressing on a person may be a catastrophe. If we must blame something, blame bad luck.

Dugujun had seen worse when he was at the Anxi Protectorate; but what of it? Who now remembers those unlucky souls? They've long turned to dust of time, just like the sand of the Hexi Corridor.

However, Dugujun saw Fang Chongyong seemingly searching for something on the ground.

"What is this?"

Fang Chongyong suddenly picked up a flat, fish-shaped object from the ground and asked Dugujun.

It flashed with golden light, glaring in the sunlight.

"A fish tally!"

Dugujun exclaimed in shock and snatched it from Fang Chongyong's hand.

Those who don't know it would feel nothing, but anyone who knows what it is couldn't stay calm.

You should know this fish tally is no small matter! It's ironclad evidence that the Tang troops participated in the looting and killing.

This fish tally has a hole in its head, is overall fish-shaped, about five or six centimeters in size, and appears to be made of copper.

Its front is slightly raised in a fish shape with scale patterns; the back is flat, with the character 'tong' engraved in relief.

Obviously this is only one half; there should be another half, which Fang Chongyong guessed would bear the character 'he'.

Putting 'he' and 'tong' together gives 'contract'; this modern term probably derives from this.

Below the raised 'tong' character it reads: 'Baiting Hai Nan Baiting Zuo Jun.' The characters are carved crookedly and ugly, obviously etched by the rank-and-file soldiers of the army.

Sure enough, yesterday's attack was carried out by the Baiting troops stationed in Liangzhou; apparently they thought their target were monks who wouldn't resist, so they got a bit overconfident.

The Baiting troops were garrisoned at Baiting Hai, north of the Chishui military base at Chishui Town, to guard against a southward advance of the Turks. Now that Turkic power has waned and the Tibetans risen, the importance of the Baiting troops has also begun to decline.

Fang Chongyong seemed to somewhat understand why the other side wanted to act against this group of Indian monks.

Baiting Hai is actually a shallow lake and marsh; they could easily channel these robes through certain routes to sell them off to the Turks, never appearing in the Hexi Corridor, so naturally there would be no way to trace them.

When the time comes, the soldiers and officers involved in this matter will split the money, and each will go their own way, enjoying themselves freely.

The newly appointed Wang Zhongsi is the Commander of the Red Water Army, not the Commander of the White Pavilion Army, and he has no authority over them.

Cui Xiyi, this military governor, like Niu Xianke, is also a weak military governor; usually for such matters they turn a blind eye.

Of course, if the White Pavilion Army attacks the Tang officials coming to Hexi, then Cui Xiyi will surely investigate to the end, killing as many as there are. This is also the main reason why that group of people last night didn't come to trouble Fang Chongyong and them.

"Beating a wolf with a hemp stalk, both sides are scared!" Last night not only were Fang Chongyong and them trembling with fear, but actually the soldiers and officers of the White Pavilion Army involved in this matter were also worried about unexpected complications.

"Let's go, during the day the White Pavilion Army certainly wouldn't dare act, but those who discovered the fish token was lost will surely come tonight.

We will now rush to Liangzhou City; we can definitely arrive before they set out.

After reaching Liangzhou, then hand over the fish token to the Hexi military governor. These fish tokens are regulated, or having just one is also fine; let those who have this fish token identity step forward and reveal the fish token in their hands. Those without are the masterminds of this matter.

Dugu Jun said urgently.

"Let's go, we'll rush to Liangzhou City right now!"

Fang Chongyong said in a deep voice, he also understood that his group had not yet completely escaped danger. The White Pavilion Army's "bandits" who were careless last night will surely be able to guess who has the lost fish token.

During the day they definitely can't search; after they move out at night, anyone along the route will be killed one by one! Kill them and then search their bodies!

The group hastily prepared the carriages, readied the horses, and set off, exerting all their strength!

But, upon reaching Liangzhou City, will everything be resolved smoothly?

Fang Chongyong raised a question in his mind.