Chapter 168: All Things Are Hard at the Beginning

The Five Surnames referred to the descendants of the old Anxi Military Governor, the Vice Military Governor, and the Garrison Commander — five great surnames: Guo, Li, Yang, Zheng, and Lu.

The Three Royal Houses referred to the royal clans of the Hu people who had held out together with the Anxi Army — namely the four royal clans of the Pei of Shule, the Bai of Kucha, the Long of Yanqi, and the Xue of Ferghana.

Later the Long family of Yanqi migrated east to Suzhou, and so they became the Three Royal Houses. Of course, these were not the whole of the Anxi Army; there were also minor surnames such as Luo and Su.

Li Qilang's words left Guo Guangsheng speechless, because Guo Guangsheng himself sometimes brooded over this very matter. The other four surnames and the Three Royal Houses had all followed his grandfather as their leader; when they were ambushed and suffered such heavy losses, his grandfather Guo Dalang naturally bore the greatest responsibility.

The Guo clansmen around him also fell silent. Though the Guo family now lived in hardship, they still numbered more than two thousand.

The various tribes around them, bound together by their Jing faith and following the Guo family's command, numbered as many as six or seven thousand.

But the Li family — the Li family had been ordered to cover the retreat, and had nearly been wiped out entirely.

"These are all things of the past. Your grandfather suffered a misunderstanding, so we ought to clear up that misunderstanding. Letting resentment fester is no good.

If you harbor grievances, then what are the Li family, who were nearly exterminated, supposed to feel?

In those days the Five Surnames and Three Royal Houses were close as brothers, resisting the Tibetans together and supporting one another. If the ancestors knew you had turned against each other, how could they rest in peace beneath the Nine Springs?"

Zhang Zhao took Li Qilang's hand and brought him and Zheng Tong before Guo Guangsheng, gently trying to mediate.

Still, the atmosphere remained awkward. After all, a misunderstanding of several decades would not be undone by a few words from Zhang Zhao.

But Zhang Zhao had a way. Since the misunderstanding could not be resolved for the moment, then first set up a common enemy.

"Guo Dalang, do you not wish to know who framed your ancestors sixty years ago? Do you not wish to know who that so-called imperial envoy and Yixi Military Governor really was?"

"The young lord has already found out who it was? Please, tell us!"

Guo Guangsheng immediately cupped his hands and bowed. Right! Since they had come to them and even admitted themselves that his grandfather had not been a traitor, they must know who it was!

"That man was the first Great Khan of the Gaochang Uyghur Khanate — Pugu Jun, fourth-generation ancestor of the present Gaochang Uyghur Wumuzhu Khagan."

Guo Guangsheng's face changed drastically at these words, and Zhang Zhao went on. "In truth, back then my ancestor Lord Zhang Yichao had already overthrown the Tibetan tyranny and opened the route through Gan and Liang to make contact with the court.

Had he known that your grandfather and the others were still holding out bitterly in Kucha, he would surely have led his army west in person. It is a pity that neither side knew of the other's existence. Otherwise the situation in Anxi would have been very different."

As he spoke, Zhang Zhao simply recounted the whole story of why Pugu Jun, founder of the Gaochang Uyghurs, had chosen to ambush the Anxi Army at Kucha. Everyone present gnashed their teeth and sighed with regret.

The Anxi Army at Kucha had held on until 840 before relinquishing the title of the Great Tang's Anxi Army, and it was not until 860 that they truly could no longer hold Kucha.

Zhang Yichao raised the banner of revolt at Shazhou in 848, and the recovery of the six commanderies of Hexi was completed by no later than 863.

If the two sides had known of each other's existence — or even if the Tang court of the time had been a little more tolerant toward the Guiyi Army — the situation might well have been completely different.

Moreover, Zhang Zhao could not help letting his thoughts wander further. If the Guiyi Army of those days had managed to link up with the remnants of the Anxi Army, then very likely they would not have sent Pugu Jun on his western campaign, but rather Li Mingzhen, Zhang Yichao's son-in-law, or Suo Xun.

In that case, the Gaochang Uyghurs would never have come into being, nor would there have been the ambush of Guo Dalang. After all, Li Mingzhen and Suo Xun were not Uyghurs; even if they had wanted to carve out their own domain, they would not have harmed the Anxi Army.

If both regions had been in the hands of the sons of Tang, together with Li Shengtian's kingdom of Khotan, the northwest might well have produced a super-sized Guiyi Army dominated by the sons of Tang.

Had such a Guiyi Army existed, even as an alliance, the Western Xia of the Li family of Dingnan Army would very likely never have grown so great.

The overland Silk Road might still have played a certain role in the Northern Song, and Kaifeng would not have had to bear so heavy a burden. The disasters of history, such as the Jingkang Incident, might never have happened.

Zhang Zhao's thoughts had already flown to the ends of the earth, while over there the Guo clansmen had turned red-faced with rage.

Like Zheng Tong and Li Qilang before them, they deeply felt the pain of having been betrayed by the very court they had loyally served.

And this grudge could not even be avenged. With the Guo family's present strength of seven or eight hundred able-bodied men, to seek revenge against the Gaochang Uyghur Khanate, with its nearly seventy or eighty thousand tents and four hundred thousand people, was undoubtedly the foolish dream of an idiot.

"Elder Brother, why worry? That Pugu Jun, with the face of a man and the heart of a beast, wronged us all. This is not the Guo family's grudge alone, but the great grudge of all of us — the Five Surnames and Three Royal Houses, all the descendants of the Anxi Army.

Though the Gaochang Uyghur Khanate is quite powerful, enough ants can bite an elephant to death. If we can unite, there may yet come a day of vengeance.

What is more, we have Young Lord Zhang Erlang with us. Young Lord Zhang Erlang is a blood descendant of Lord Zhang Yichao and the own nephew of the Great Sage Son of Heaven of the Golden Kingdom of Khotan.

He is now Commandery Duke Fengtian of the Golden Kingdom of Khotan and Prefect of Polu, with several hundred fierce armored warriors under his command.

Beneath the walls of Polu, with only two or three thousand foot soldiers, he utterly routed Bughra Khan Satuq's twenty thousand elite cavalry. With Young Lord Zhang Erlang's aid, our great undertaking is sure to succeed!"

The monk Huitong, Zheng Tong, truly knew how to handle people. The moment he called him "Elder Brother," he instantly drew closer to Guo Dalang, Guo Guangsheng, and then, at just the right moment, sang Zhang Zhao's praises, immediately giving the Guo clansmen present the feeling that they had found a pillar to lean on.

Guo Guangsheng and Guo Guangcheng stared wide-eyed at Zhang Zhao; Guo Guangcheng even gaped in astonishment.

"You are the Commandery Duke Zhang invited by Master Titixigu? That golden-armored divine general, Young Lord Zhang Erlang, who routed a force ten times his own and sent Bughra Khan Satuq fleeing in utter disarray?"

The Guo brothers, like Master Titixigu, simply could not reconcile the young man before them, who looked to be in his teens or twenties, with the legendary golden-armored war god, Commandery Duke Zhang.

They had all assumed Zhang Zhao was Commandery Duke Zhang's own son, nephew, or younger brother. After all, that a young fellow of twenty could beat Bughra Khan Satuq — a ruler acknowledged throughout Anxi as a hero — into such a sorry state was truly hard to imagine.

"Correct! I am Zhang Zhao, Commandery Duke Fengtian of the Golden Kingdom of Khotan. You two may not yet know this, but I came to Anxi not to seek refuge with my maternal uncle's family, but specifically to find you — to find you descendants of the Anxi Army."

Zhang Zhao had not expected that he actually possessed such a chuunibyou title as the golden-armored war god, though it did fit the naming habits of this era.

This was the benefit of fame! After blowing open the city of Shule, Li Shengtian had dared to entrust his elite troops to him and approve his extremely bold plan. And after smashing Satuq, even the people of Balasagun knew his name.

"A sin! A sin! I beg the Commandery Duke to forgive our negligence. Please wait but a moment, Commandery Duke Zhang."

Now that he knew Zhang Zhao was the man himself, and might one day become the lord of Balasagun, even though Guo Guangsheng felt there was little hope of holding Balasagun, he still dared not be remiss toward Zhang Zhao's status.

After first begging Zhang Zhao's forgiveness, he turned and loudly issued orders to the people atop Guangcheng Fort.

"Ask Father to open the main gate and welcome him! This is a visit from Commandery Duke Zhang of the Golden Kingdom of Khotan!"

Only then did Zhang Zhao realize that this place outside Guangcheng Fort, decorated with simple stones and a few strips of silk cloth like some open-air barbecue gathering, was not the main wedding venue for Guo Guangcheng, and the Guo clansmen nearby were not the core members of the Guo family.

Moreover, Guo Guangcheng's wedding would not be held today, because Aluoluo had been snatched back, and by then the auspicious hour for the wedding bows had long passed.

Although the bride had just been snatched back, the wedding had already been postponed; the auspicious day was two days later.

Rumble — the main gate of Guangcheng Fort opened. In ordinary times, to guard against all manner of dangers, Guangcheng Fort generally opened only two small gates for coming and going.

On either side of the gate stood two rows of warriors, hengdao sabers at their waists, leather armor on their bodies, red cloth strips bound uniformly around their heads, and net caps on their heads, standing motionless at attention. At last there was some martial dignity.

At the far end of the two rows of warriors, an old man in a crimson gap-sided robe, wearing a futou cap and with a neatly trimmed beard, was walking quickly toward Zhang Zhao, accompanied by two men dressed in much the same way.

"Guo Xuanli, sixth-generation descendant of the late Great Tang Acting Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, Military Governor of the Four Garrisons of Anxi, and Prince of Wuwei Commandery, Lord Guo Xin, greets Prefect of Polu and Commandery Duke Zhang of the Great Jin Kingdom!"

Guo Xuanli did not use his Jing title of the Prudent Great Virtue Xuancheng, but instead, following the customs among the sons of Tang, bowed deeply from the waist to pay his respects to Zhang Zhao.

"Elder Guo is my senior; how dare this junior receive such a great courtesy from an elder!" Zhang Zhao hurried over in several long, half-running strides and supported Guo Xuanli, who was already nearing sixty.

Up close, Guo Xuanli looked far older than from a distance. His aged face was full of the wind and frost of the years, the hair on his head almost entirely white, and his hands were as rough as old tree bark — he did not look at all like a man of standing.

"This old man thanks the Commandery Duke once more for his righteous deed! Had the Black Wolf Tribe's Hei Mao truly carried off my daughter-in-law, how could this old man and the Guo family have had any face left to stand in this place!"

No sooner had they risen than Guo Xuanli made to pull his two sons down again to bow before Zhang Zhao.

Somewhat irritated, Zhang Zhao hurriedly bustled about once more and raised the father and sons back to their feet.

Although Guo Xuanli appeared extremely grateful and respectful toward him, in truth everything about the man, inside and out, carried a faint air of distance.

A half-buried old man like him, knowing full well that Zhang Zhao had come seeking them, still insisted on bowing again and again.

One must understand that in this era, a man over sixty was generally excused from kneeling before an official, let alone when the two sides shared this kind of relationship.

Guo Xuanli clearly meant to use a few grand gestures of courtesy to put a distance between them and the small measure of closeness that had just begun to form.

After this back-and-forth, Zhang Zhao smiled faintly. Guo Xuanli wanted to raise him high on a pedestal, using the Golden Kingdom of Khotan to dilute the bond they shared as sons of Tang — well, he would not let the old fellow have his way.

"I have just heard the brothers and uncles outside the fort all speaking the Han tongue, and their every gesture shows refinement. Here in this remote land of Balasagun, more than a hundred years after the Great Tang withdrew from the Western Regions, you have still not forgotten your bloodline — Lord Guo, your achievement is immense! I imagine there must be a clan school in this town?"

"Lord Jun, you flatter me! To not forget the old country, to not forget our bloodline — that is the family precept handed down by my ancestor Lord Guo Linggong. His descendants must of course keep it always in mind."

Though he did not know what Zhang Zhao was driving at, being able to preserve his own culture after nearly two hundred years away from the homeland was precisely what Guo Xuanli was proudest of.

Hearing Zhang Zhao praise him so, he was somewhat wary, but he could not help feeling a little pleased with himself.

"There is a place in the fort where the younger generation may study the words of the ancient sages, but I would not presume to call it a clan school. It is very crude! Very crude!"

Guo Xuanli demurred repeatedly, but the young Guo Guangcheng could not resist putting in a word.

"The one in Guangcheng Fort is indeed somewhat crude, but the Guo clan school in Helie City has thirty rooms alone — better than the places most of us live in!"

"Admirable! Lord Guo is far too modest. But since Helie City is out of reach, might I be permitted to visit the clan school here?" Zhang Zhao cupped his hands again with a show of formality.

"If Lord Guo does not mind, when I came I brought along some food and fine wine from the old country in the Central Plains. Might we invite the brothers and uncles outside to come in as well, so that after I have seen the clan school, we can all enjoy ourselves together?

I have never before seen so many sons of Tang gathered in one place in the land of Anxi!"

Guo Xuanli did not know what Zhang Zhao was scheming, but he knew he could not refuse.

For originally a great banquet was to have been laid out today, but because the wedding had been postponed after nearly turning into a disgrace, many of the slaughtered cattle and sheep had not been cooked, and the clansmen who had come to help outside had not eaten their fill.

Now, hearing that Zhang Zhao had wine and meat, they began murmuring excitedly behind him. To them, eating meat was truly a fine thing!

So Guo Xuanli merely hesitated a moment, then cupped his hands toward Zhang Zhao.

"Then we shall impose upon Lord Jun's generosity!"

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