Chapter 204: War Is the Continuation of Politics

Rumors of coming war swept through every corner of Samanid Persia at lightning speed, even drowning out the recent hot news that Nasr II had converted to Shia Islam.

Now every Samanid knew that in the steppes to the northeast there had arisen a Gur Khan whose title was the glorious Khan of Khans.

This Gur Khan stood thirty feet tall, his eyes bigger than an ordinary man's head, and a single punch of his could smash a breach in the walls of Bukhara.

At one meal he ate five oxen and twenty sheep, plus a pair of virgin boys and girls as a snack, and he never drank water, only human blood.

This was no longer a man, but a devil from the cold northern steppes!

The Transoxiana region at this time was in fact a relatively warm agrarian civilization zone, but nomadic peoples from the north would still frequently ride south to raid.

Transoxiana, however, had one advantage: its farming and pastoral zones were distributed in a pattern where each was interwoven with the other.

The farming zones therefore did not lack warhorses, which greatly improved their ability to deal with nomadic cavalry.

Of course, it was even more because the truly local nomads' fighting strength was simply too embarrassing to put on display.

Throughout the Transoxiana region, the threat had always come from east and west — the Arabs and Persians to the west, and the Taohuashi dynasty to the east. These were their greatest threats.

But the Samanid dynasty itself was Persian, and the Taohuashi dynasty had long since declined, so for nearly a hundred years Transoxiana had faced little threat.

"This time is different. The Gur Khan first defeated an army of thirty thousand in the direction of Tashkent, and he captured and killed the governor of Tashkent province, Wazir Ali Doulaf.

Then he destroyed Bughra Khan, who came from Taohuashi. It is said he has already unified all of Taohuashi and has five hundred thousand warriors under his command!"

A 'know-it-all' wearing a leather coat, his face full of mystery, gathered a crowd of people into a circle and said in a lowered voice.

The people around him all gasped sharply. Five hundred thousand warriors! Probably the entire Samanid realm did not have five hundred thousand adult men. How could they ever defeat the terrifying Gur Khan?

A thin, small man, trembling all over, asked the question everyone wanted to ask.

It was said this Gur Khan was also a heathen. If he broke in, what would everyone do? Would they have to bear heavy religious taxes like those stubborn Zoroastrians?

"This will depend on Prince Hamid. The prince commands the brave Ghulam Guards, and also a large number of the Ersariya standing army. The holy warriors are also willing to follow His Highness's orders.

As long as Prince Hamid is willing to take the field, he will surely defeat the enemy."

The know-it-all quickly prescribed the remedy, and the people around him suddenly felt they had a pillar to lean on. Prince Hamid did indeed seem quite capable.

After dispersing, they spread the news far and wide that Prince Hamid could defeat the Gur Khan.

What they did not know was that after the crowd dispersed, the know-it-all and the thin man ate something, then hurried off to the next spot. All over Bukhara, such rumors were circulating.

Someone is trying to harm me!

Prince Hamid wore a thick, full beard, but it was kept very neat. His small, square face looked extraordinarily dignified, and anyone who saw him would praise his imposing bearing.

This was also the reason he could quickly gather a large number of followers — because he looked like an Emir.

Good looks have always been an important bonus, in ancient and modern times, in China and abroad.

For example, if two people are of similar ability, but one looks like Yanzu and the other like Zhiwei, people will choose Yanzu.

Even if Yanzu is less capable, the onlookers will still choose Yanzu.

The 'Yanzu' of Samanid Persia today, Prince Hamid, had run into just such a problem. He knew his own affairs best: Prince Hamid knew that in military matters he absolutely had little talent.

The claim that he could lead the nation in resisting invasion was entirely made with ulterior motives.

That he had managed to hold on all these years under the suspicion of his father Nasr II, apart from his skill at internal power struggles, was in fact largely thanks to this dignified face, which added many points for him.

"Your Highness, this must be that treacherous minister Balami targeting you. What Gur Khan? Hah! Ali Doulaf did not have a single Ghulam Guard under him, so killing him means nothing at all.

Adular of Khujand led thirty thousand troops and pinned the Gur Khan down so he could not move. And thirty feet tall? Clearly someone is deliberately exaggerating!"

In Prince Hamid's residence, seven or eight trusted confidants were discussing the matter. Everyone believed that this so-called Gur Khan invasion was nothing but hot air, a conspiracy aimed at Prince Hamid.

"Ahem!" Seeing that everyone had finished stating their views, Prince Hamid coughed lightly twice and looked around at them all.

"Since you all believe it is a conspiracy, how will they carry it out? And how should we respond?"

"This conspiracy is simply meant to achieve two things. If the prince expresses willingness to go resist this so-called Gur Khan, His Highness the Emir will order the prince to lead the army out on campaign.

As soon as the prince leaves Bukhara, those treacherous ministers will incite His Highness the Emir to purge us!"

Prince Hamid nodded. This was very likely. As the Salar of the kingdom, the troops he could directly control were most of the Ghulam Guards in Bukhara.

The Ghulams and Ersariya standing troops in other cities were in a very complicated situation, and were mostly still willing to serve his father, Emir Nasr II.

At the same time, his political power was also basically concentrated in Bukhara. Once he left, given the cunning of the Grand Wazir Balami, a great purge would surely be launched.

Alas! Prince Hamid sighed deeply in his heart. He had been too impatient!

He had not followed his father Nasr II's conversion to Shia Islam, which had caused his father to grow deeply suspicious of him. Had his father not become suspicious, Balami would never have dared touch a single one of his men.

"Then what of the second effect? What will happen if I do not lead the army on campaign?" Prince Hamid asked next.

"If the prince refuses to lead the army out, they will accuse the prince before His Highness the Emir of harboring disloyal intentions, and of remaining in Bukhara to preserve his strength.

This servant dares say that Prince Sadid has surely already colluded with Balami and the others. As soon as the prince shows any intention of staying in Bukhara, they will urge His Highness the Emir to have Prince Sadid take the Ghulam Guards of Bukhara to Khujand to confront the Gur Khan.

In that way, Your Highness would lose his most important military authority, and would no longer be able to resist!"

Prince Hamid stood up, his face extremely grim. Neither of these two situations was one he wished to face.

Whether leaving Bukhara and losing his administrative power, or staying in Bukhara but losing military authority, both would be fatal to him.

If he lost one, the other would inevitably be lost as well — perhaps even his life.

"Think of a way. What should I do to get through the present crisis?"

"This still depends on His Highness the Emir's attitude. The prince should go now to the Ark Citadel and request an audience with His Highness the Emir.

If His Highness the Emir is willing to receive you now, then perhaps you can move His Highness the Emir with familial affection.

You could even directly say that you are ill and cannot travel, then hand military authority to General Husayn and have him go on campaign in your place."

General Husayn was Prince Hamid's brother-in-law, born of the Ibn family, which had held military authority for generations, and was the key figure through whom Prince Hamid could control the Ghulam Guards of Bukhara.

A few traces of joy finally appeared on Prince Hamid's face. If Husayn could lead the army on campaign in his place, then he could control the situation in Bukhara, and with the army outside, Balami and the others would not dare do anything to him.

"And what if His Highness the Emir is unwilling to receive me?" Prince Hamid asked the final possibility.

"If His Highness the Emir is unwilling to receive Your Highness, then it means the Emir has already grown suspicious of you.

Then you, Prince, should prepare to kneel outside the Ark Citadel without rising, to express your stance, and at the same time ask Princess Safiya to intercede on your behalf."

We, for our part, will send someone to urge the Hakim of Khujand, Adhural, to march his troops at once. If Adhural can send good news within three months, this crisis will be considered weathered.

Otherwise, His Highness the Prince will have no choice but to take the last road."

Princess Safiya is Prince Hamid's full sister and is greatly cherished by Nasr II. As long as she is willing to step in and mediate, Prince Hamid is confident he can keep the matter suppressed for a few months.

As long as Adhural can defeat that Juer Khan within these few months, the whole crisis will be resolved.

If he cannot — Prince Hamid's face clouded over — the so-called last step is to exploit the discontent of Bukhara's religious figures and townsfolk over Nasr II's conversion to the Twelver sect and launch a coup.

But with the Juer Khan pressing on the borders in this conspiracy, how much of the fury stirred up by the conversion would actually remain, he truly could not be sure.

Su Duishana, rendered in later ages by Russian as Ura-Tyube, lies between Khujand at the mouth of the Fergana Valley and Samarkand.

This is the capital of the Eastern Cao Kingdom — or rather, it should be all that remains of the Eastern Cao of the former Nine Zhaowu Clans, for the Eastern Cao state was not large, consisting merely of eight small towns around Su Duishana.

The brothers Pei Shengyuan and Pei Tongyuan, together with Xue Sili and three others, six men in all, spent more than two months before they found the descendants of the Eastern Cao Kingdom — that is, the kinsmen of Cao Yanmian of the Cao clan.

Dire! Utterly dire! That was the first impression of the Pei brothers and Xue Sili.

The two thousand or so people left of the Eastern Cao Kingdom had already been driven up into the mountains.

Su Duishana, too, had gone from a city of eight or nine thousand inhabitants to a tiny outpost of Samanid Persia.

The reason was that Bughra Khan Satuq of the Kara-Khanid Khanate had failed to take Khujand.

Because of Cao Yanmian, the entire Eastern Cao people had gambled everything on Satuq — and lost everything they had.

After Satuq withdrew, having failed to take Khujand, the Eastern Cao Kingdom suffered bloody reprisals from Samanid Persia.

Of the forty or fifty thousand people of the whole clan, fewer than three thousand were left alive, and more than half the women and children were lost.

Only the sole remaining bloodline of the Eastern Cao royal house — Cao Yanmian's nephew — escaped under the protection of trusted followers.

By the time the Pei brothers and Xue Sili found them, the descendants of the Eastern Cao Kingdom had already eaten up even next year's seed grain.

The only supplies left were a few dozen goats. They could still get through this winter, but next year great numbers of people would surely starve to death.

And so the Pei brothers and Xue Sili did not need to spend much effort persuading them, because they simply had no choice.

"Caught him! Caught him!" someone shouted.

Pei Shengyuan looked down and saw that the Eastern Cao riders had seized a burly man with a full beard.

He plainly was no traveling merchant, nor a local — who would come out to this desolate wilderness in the dead of winter?

The bearded man's attendant looked up at Pei Shengyuan and shouted, "Who are you people? Are you from the Eastern Cao Kingdom? We are not Samanid Persians — we come from Kasan!

If you are willing to help us return to Kasan, Governor Yusuf will reward you handsomely!"

So they take me for the leader of the Eastern Cao Kingdom! Pei Shengyuan gave a cold smile.

What are Yusuf's men doing coming from the direction of Bukhara? What did they go there to do? They'll need a thorough interrogation!

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