Chapter 210: The Double-Headed Eagle of Khotan

Goose-feather snow finally began to fall. This was still the third Little Ice Age in history, which would not ease until the God of Cars was nearly dead.

Yet this very ice age was precisely the period when the Fergana Basin developed most rapidly.

Thanks to its basin terrain, the temperature in the Fergana Basin at this time was one or two degrees higher than in Anxi and Transoxiana. Do not underestimate that one or two degrees — in agricultural production, the impact was enormous.

"As the saying goes, timely snow promises a bountiful year, yet these past years it has snowed heavily every year, and never once has there been a bountiful year.

Still, this place is truly not bad. It is already the twelfth month, and only now has such heavy snow fallen. If we were in Suyab, it would probably have been snowing like this months ago."

Guo Tiance came in carrying a large stack of documents that needed review. He looked at the heavy snow outside the window and sighed a few times in front of Zhang Zhao.

"Great King, Yusup has been buried as you instructed, but what is to be done with his family?

His eldest son in particular is already thirteen. The little whelp remembers the grudge! When I sent Yusup's body back, the look in his eyes was truly frightening!"

Zhang Zhao knew what Guo Tiance meant. In this age, the victor possessed everything, and it was the norm that the defeated were wiped out to the last chicken and dog.

After Zhang Zhao entered Kasan, more than a hundred of Yusup's clansmen were still alive and well, which in the eyes of men like Guo Tiance meant the Great King was being somewhat too merciful.

"Hmm! It seems it is not only those wretches — even a civil official like you, Guo Tiance, thinks I have been too soft-hearted, like a woman's kindness.

Very well then, we shall follow the rules. Keep feeding them for another month or so, and when we march south to Khujand next spring, kill all the adult males as a sacrifice to the banners!"

Zhang Zhao thought it over and felt there was no point in talking about humanity or inhumanity. Since it was the rule, then do not break it.

If this Yusup had been a son of Tang who had done no evil, perhaps killing him alone would have sufficed, but unfortunately he did not have that fate.

Moreover, the man had cut off the noses and ears of Khotan's envoys, and had long since landed on Li Shengtian's blacklist.

"By the way! Are there any great beauties among Yusup's wives and concubines?" Guo Tiance nodded and was about to leave when Zhang Zhao called him back.

Guo Tiance immediately assumed a look of eyes on nose, nose on heart, afraid that Zhang Zhao might think he had some other impression of the matter.

"Yusup's wife is old and faded, but his two newly married ladies are both from great local clans. One is gorgeous, the other passable. I will go inform Commandant Fan at once and have him send them to the Great King's chambers."

Guo Tiance answered somewhat cautiously. In truth, Yusup's wife was not ugly either, only that her age was indeed a bit advanced — she must have been thirty-three or thirty-four. The two newly wedded beauties were quite lovely, but Guo Tiance was in the habit of not speaking in absolutes.

"What nonsense are you spouting!" Zhang Zhao picked up an uninked brush from the desk and hurled it at Guo Tiance. The brush struck Guo Tiance on the head with a thud.

"Keep Yusup's wives, concubines, and daughters under watch, and when the time comes send them all back to Shule, to the Great Sage Son of Heaven."

This was Zhang Zhao's customary tactic, so much so that by now everyone knew: when Great King Zhang cursed you foully, kicked you a couple of times, and berated you a few times, that precisely meant Great King Zhang regarded you as one of his own.

Sure enough, Guo Tiance, who had just been somewhat constrained by the sensitive topic, immediately relaxed. He rubbed his head.

"Great King, Queen Cao might not be too pleased about that, would she?"

Ah, so it seemed our Cao Jin's reputation for jealousy was truly known to everyone. But Zhang Zhao knew where to draw the line.

"Go handle it. The Great Sage Son of Heaven is holding in his anger. If I do not send Yusup's wives and concubines, my uncle will surely think I am keeping all the spoils for myself again!"

Damn! Was this something a subject should hear? Guo Tiance was startled, and immediately fled out in three quick strides.

Zhang Zhao grinned. Cao Yuanxin's former strict restrictions on the people around Li Shengtian did indeed stem partly from jealousy, but more importantly, they were meant to secure her position and that of Li Congde.

Ever since she had arranged for Zhang Zhao and Li Congde to become in-laws through their children, Cao Yuanxin had in fact given up restricting Li Shengtian in that regard.

She had even been willing to release her greatest rival, Li Shengtian's former queen, so a few more women hardly mattered.

And Zhang Zhao had considerations of his own. Fergana and Khotan were more than a thousand li apart. Not finding Li Shengtian a few women from great local clans to serve as his queens would simply be indefensible.

As for the governance of Fergana, Zhang Zhao had already worked it out with Li Shengtian before the campaign.

Once the place was fully occupied, the richest and most fertile estates would mostly become Li Shengtian's private royal estates, while a small portion would be allotted to Zhang Zhao.

When they had left, Cao Yanmian had finally become pregnant. If she bore a son, the portion belonging to Zhang Zhao would be enfeoffed to that son.

It was called a small portion, but in truth it was not small at all — at least three or four hundred thousand mu of good farmland. Li Shengtian, for his part, would receive more than seven hundred thousand mu of land.

This was not much. One must remember that in later ages, the Fergana Basin, where the kingdom of Fergana lay, had close to twenty million mu of well-watered arable land in total.

In this era, by Zhang Zhao's rough calculation, there were at least around seven million mu. With a bit more land reclamation, ten million mu could certainly be brought under cultivation.

As for the greater part of the remainder, it would all be enfeoffed to the various amirs who came from Khotan.

This was also the reason they had been willing to send nearly ten thousand elite troops this time: after the war, they would be distributed across the Fergana Basin according to the number of troops sent and their battle merits, while their fiefs in Khotan would gradually be reclaimed.

Finally, there was one last small portion, roughly one hundred thousand mu of land, which would be allotted to the soldiers under Zhang Zhao.

Although his purpose in forming the Fengtian Army was to return east with him, on the battlefield, injuries and losses were unavoidable.

For those who died in battle, the matter was simple: Zhang Zhao had already strictly registered them all, and compensation and other benefits would be delivered to the heirs he had designated.

But what of the wounded? If these men were willing to return east, he would certainly be willing to take them.

But after returning east, Zhang Zhao would face even stronger enemies, and he estimated he would not have too many resources to lavish on them.

Staying in the Fergana Basin, however, was different. Say your leg was wounded and you could not march well — Zhang Zhao could simply enfeoff you with a few hundred or a thousand mu of land according to your merits, and then find you a wife from among the local people.

Finally, he would allot you a dozen or so slaves captured from India. The life of such a great lord would absolutely be more comfortable than following him back east.

And this was not something Zhang Zhao had dreamed up on his own — wounded soldiers had already come to him with this request.

Why did men risk their lives for you? Was it not for food and clothing without worry, and even glory and wealth?

And so, the final political structure of Fergana was more or less settled.

Because it was too far from the Khotan homeland, the only option was to enfeoff the amirs and meritorious officials of Khotan to this place. Zhang Zhao would also give up his fief in Polu Prefecture and transfer his fief here.

Henceforth, Khotan's politics would take the form of the Son of Heaven and two kings coexisting. The Great Sage Son of Heaven, as sovereign of Khotan, would reside in Shule and rule over all parties.

Upon reaching adulthood, the Crown Prince of Khotan would receive a formal title of Crown Prince, and with that title he would go to the Fergana Basin, where he would manage the Son of Heaven's several hundred thousand mu of private royal estates while handling all administrative affairs of Fergana.

As for the second king, Zhang Zhao's title of Deputy King would be retained. After Zhang Zhao returned east, it would pass to whichever son he designated.

But that son and his descendants would be required to settle permanently in the Fergana Basin, where they would serve as the greatest vassals of the Fergana region after the Son of Heaven of the Golden Kingdom, assisting the Crown Prince in governing the land.

That is to say, given that it was too distant to manage, Khotan had no choice but to adopt a double-headed eagle model of governance.

The entire Fergana Basin would be completely transformed into a true feudal model, tentatively set at seven ranks: Prince (Crown Prince), Deputy King, Marquis, Count, Amir, Beg, and Intendant.

The Crown Prince would enjoy a fief of more than eight hundred thousand mu of arable land, along with the corresponding mountain forests and grasslands. The Deputy King would receive four hundred thousand mu.

A Marquis could hold at most eighty thousand mu, a Count at most thirty thousand, an Amir at most ten thousand, a Beg at most five thousand, and an Intendant at most three thousand, with a minimum of two thousand.

But these were only the sizes of the fiefs; they were not subordinate to one another. They all answered directly to the Crown Prince.

Among them, vassals of the rank of Amozhi and above could also enfeoff their own household retainers within their own lands.

Besides paying a fixed tribute to the Great Sage Son of Heaven every year, they also had to answer the kingdom's call to arms, dispatching troops according to the size of their fiefs to follow the Great Sage Son of Heaven into battle.

In addition to these noble titles, a large number of landowners directly subordinate to the Great Sage Son of Heaven would also be enfeoffed, each holding from a few hundred to over a thousand mu of land, and these men would form the political foundation of the entire Fergana Basin.

Before the crown prince came of age, Fergana would be governed by the deputy king; once the crown prince reached adulthood, the deputy king would return governing authority to the crown prince.

After the crown prince returned to inherit the throne of the Khotan Son of Heaven, when the next crown prince was still young, governing authority would again be entrusted to the deputy king.

This was a political system extremely similar to Japan's shogunate period, especially the Tokugawa shogunate, and it carried many problems, flaws, and hidden dangers.

But there was no alternative — Shule and Kesh City were too far apart, nearly two thousand li, with snow mountains blocking the way between them, making effective rule fundamentally impossible to establish.

The alternating governance model of crown prince and deputy king was also highly problematic. If the deputy king ever hardened his heart and, like Yusufu, carved out territory to set himself up independently, it was not impossible.

But on the whole, the likelihood was not too great, because the entire Fergana Basin lay within the small circulation loop from India to Chang'an that Zhang Zhao had created.

The Khotan Son of Heaven at Shule held the crucial trade route in his grip. If the deputy king dared to rebel, it could be cut off immediately, forcing the merchants to travel through Suyab to reach India.

All the bustling world moves for profit. If the deputy king wanted the dense mass of feudal lords below him to all follow him in rebellion, how much profit would he have to produce?

If he could really produce that much profit so easily, why would he need to rebel at all?

Of course, the most important thing of all was that Zhang Zhao's ultimate goal was to return to the Central Plains and establish a new unified dynasty.

Once the Central Plains were unified, who ruled Fergana or even Suyab, and how the benefits were distributed, would all be a single word from the Central Plains court.

By then, the Khotan royal clan would be the line of Zhang Zhao's son-in-law, while the deputy king of Fergana and the Acting Military Governor of Suyab would be his sons — what was there to fight over?

Wouldn't it be better for everyone to join forces and go to Persia, to the great plains of Ukraine, to India, to seek gain?

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