Chapter 133: Upon the Snowfields, the Han Sun Heavenly Seed

"Your humble servant of the Cao clan pays her respects to the Duke of Fengtian!" In the royal palace of Shule, Zhang Zhao stared in alarm at the woman bowing gracefully before him, almost thinking he had misheard.

What Cao clan? This was clearly the queen of Bughra Khan Satuq!

She clearly had a Scythian face completely unlike a Han person's! Why would she call herself a humble servant of the Cao clan? And speak Han speech with a strange accent, yet perfectly communicable?

"The Duke seems surprised? Surprised that my surname is Cao? Or surprised that I can speak Han speech?"

The Khara-Khanid queen who called herself of the Cao clan tucked two small figures behind her, then looked at Zhang Zhao with a composed expression.

This was the inner palace of Bughra Khan Satuq, and few people could enter here, so standing opposite this woman were only four people: Zhang Zhao, Cao Yanming, Liu Zaisheng, and a Khotan palace eunuch who had ridden in at a gallop from outside the city.

"To be honest, I'm surprised by all of it!" Zhang Zhao couldn't help scratching his chin, a sign that he was somewhat nervous.

Beside him, Cao Yanming already looked as if he were doubting his own existence, while Liu Zaisheng and the eunuch were taking it better — clearly they had encountered such situations before.

"My humble surname is Cao because my ancestors were the kings of the Eastern Cao Kingdom. The name Cao was recognized by your Great Tang Emperor and the Great Tang court.

And the reason I, a servant, learned Han speech even ten thousand li from home is that my family are descendants of the Han Sun Heavenly Seed!"

Interesting. I transmigrate, and I'm stuck dealing with people surnamed Cao, is that it?

Zhang Zhao turned to look at Cao Yanming, who also scratched his nose somewhat awkwardly.

"Cousin-uncle, why are you looking at me? I'm a Han man, not a Sogdian from the Cao Kingdom! Why don't you summon Li Qilang? He would surely know something."

Right! Wasn't Li Qilang from the Cao Kingdom? Though one was Eastern Cao and the other Western Cao, perhaps there was some connection!

"Han Sun Heavenly Seed, heh! Queen, in the past when your Khara-Khanid state attacked our Great Jin Kingdom without cause, slaughtered our border people, and persecuted followers of the three faiths, I never heard you mention being a descendant of the Han Sun Heavenly Seed!"

Liu Zaisheng sneered, clearly not buying this claim in the slightest.

But Zhang Zhao's interest was piqued, because the term "Han Sun Heavenly Seed" was truly very familiar to him!

So familiar that the moment this Cao woman said it, he had a recollection, but... Zhang Zhao closed his eyes and thought for a long while, yet simply could not remember where he had heard the term.

Seeing Zhang Zhao's puzzled expression, Liu Zaisheng cupped his hands toward him and said, "Young lord, you need not mind it. In the region of the Pantuo Kingdom, there has always been a legend that the local people are descendants of a Han princess and a heavenly god who descended from the sun."

With that, Liu Zaisheng sneered a few times. "Heh heh! But young lord, look at their faces — in what way do they resemble us? Clearly they're just trying to claim kinship."

The Cao woman kneeling on the ground heard Liu Zaisheng's words, and her willow-leaf brows suddenly shot up in anger.

"General! The tale of the Han Sun Heavenly Seed has existed since ancient times. Back then, the Great Tang had not yet pressed its might over Anxi and the Zhaowu states. If it were mere kinship-claiming, would it not have begun only after the Great Tang arrived?"

Liu Zaisheng's brow twitched. For some reason, whenever he heard the term "Han Sun Heavenly Seed," he felt an irrepressible rage. When there's benefit, you're Han Sun Heavenly Seed; when there's none, you vanish, is that it?

"Royal clan of Eastern Cao, bloodline of the Han Sun Heavenly Seed, and yet also the exalted queen of the Khara-Khanids — over the years, many Han people in Shule have suffered, and there were no few descendants of the old Anxi Protectorate in Shule. Why did I never see the Queen, mindful of her surname Cao, offer them protection?

Eastern Cao received Great Tang enfeoffments for generations, and the Sogdians of the Cao Kingdom gained no small benefit in the Great Tang. Yet in former years, when His Highness Li Yuanzhong, the Ningse Commandery Prince of Western Cao, defended Beiting, I saw no Eastern Cao men go to serve under him."

The Cao woman smiled bitterly. "Does the General think my position can compare with that of Empress Cao of the Jin Kingdom? Empress Cao and the Great Sage Son of Heaven knew each other for over ten years with deep affection, and she had her maiden family to support her. What do I have?

Bughra Khan was a hero of his generation, a ruler capable of exterminating his uncle's entire family and burying his cousins, nephews, and nieces alive together in a pit. Would he tolerate a palace consort like me uttering a single word about affairs of the outer court?

In the years when Eastern Cao was being destroyed, we sent up memorials more than ten times a year, saying the state was in peril and begging the heavenly troops to strike the Black-Robed Arabs. Was there ever any response? By the time the state fell, we could barely protect ourselves — who was there to go serve?"

Liu Zaisheng was about to argue further when Zhang Zhao suddenly grabbed his left hand — he had vaguely remembered what the Han Sun Heavenly Seed was about.

"The Pantuo Kingdom — is it not in the old territory of the Great Tang's Congling Garrison? Are they not also called Kiz Kurgan?"

The Cao woman on the ground heard the words "Kiz Kurgan" and quietly let out a breath of relief, replacing her expression with a delighted smile.

"So the Duke of Fengtian also knows of us. Does this not show that the tale of the Han Sun Heavenly Seed is no mere claim of kinship?"

"So it's you! No wonder it felt familiar!" A relaxed smile also appeared on Zhang Zhao's face. The legend of the Han Sun Heavenly Seed was one that had been passed down to later ages — it concerned the Tajik people.

Kiz Kurgan is a Tajik word meaning "Princess City." Legend has it that the Tajiks are descendants of a Han princess married westward.

In later times, there was much research into this legend. The most common explanation was that it was the story of how King Yifu of the Western Zhou enfeoffed Ji Chuo at Spring Mountain and married his eldest daughter Yuanzhen to Ji Chuo.

And the legend of the Han Sun Heavenly Seed was accepted by many Tajiks in later ages. When the Tang monk Tripitaka traveled to India to fetch the scriptures, he passed through the Pantuo Kingdom and recorded this story in detail.

The Tajiks! Eagles guarding the frontier for the nation, the protagonists of "Why Are the Flowers So Red" — they had always been close to the central government.

During Yakub Beg's invasion, they defended to the death, and even their leader, the Hakim Beg Kurchak, fell in battle. When Lord Zuo Wenxiang recovered Xinjiang, the Tajiks were also the quickest ethnic group to respond.

Later they even formed the Selikur Suiyuan Hui Regiment to resist the infiltration of Xinjiang by the two imperialist powers, Britain and Russia. In the Republican era, they were likewise an ethnic group that bore the great task of guarding the border for the nation.

The Cao woman looked at Zhang Zhao with some puzzlement for the first time. What did he mean by "so it's you" and "no wonder it felt familiar"? Why would this young lord Zhang say such things?

Zhang Zhao pondered silently for a while. The appearance of the Tajiks had suddenly opened up a line of thought in his mind.

He had long harbored the idea of going to India to plunder, and had very much wanted to turn plundering India into a sustainable enterprise.

But the road to India was not easy. The most likely route was to occupy the Fergana Basin and then detour through the Khyber Pass.

However, although the Persian Samanid dynasty was currently weak and decadent, it had not yet completely collapsed and could still hold on.

If he had to wait until the Persian Samanid dynasty was crushed, the time span would probably be too long. He always had to return to Guazhou and Shazhou.

Perhaps... with the help of these Tajiks, he could cross the frozen Greater and Lesser Bolor and enter India?

But this woman was Satuq's queen, destined to be handed over to Li Shengtian. Once she entered Li Shengtian's harem — hmm! — it would be somewhat inconvenient for him to use her to connect with the Tajiks.

Moreover, Zhang Zhao had a whole group of Sogdian Cao people under his command, and this woman was from Eastern Cao. The Eastern Cao people lived at the exit of the Fergana Basin, between Khujand at the valley mouth and Samarkand.

Although they had converted to Islam, it had not been long, and with his own special identity, he could completely package himself as a son-in-law of the Sogdians! In this way, perhaps he could find a group of collaborators in the Fergana Basin.

Hmm! He had to think of a way to keep Li Shengtian from getting this woman!

Right! This was for the sake of his imperial uncle's health!

A beauty of sixteen is soft as cream; a sword at her waist cuts down foolish men. No head is seen to fall in the open, yet in secret she drains a man's marrow dry.

Too many women shortens one's life. His father had died young, so he absolutely must transfer that filial devotion to his imperial uncle, the Son of Heaven!

Zhang Zhao rubbed his chin and instantly felt himself become filial. I'm doing this for the health of my imperial uncle, the Son of Heaven.

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