Chapter 228: A Pillow Delivered Just as Sleep Arrives

Money paved the way, and great bowls of wine and large cuts of meat built goodwill.

Just as Zhang Zhao was entertaining several dozen of the biggest local magnates from within a hundred li of Huwen City, wining and dining them lavishly.

Rashid Salman, Deputy Troop Commander of the Shunyi Left Army, struck out in all directions, driving off the troops loyal to the Samanid dynasty from more than a dozen nearby towns and gradually bringing the region under control.

This Persian worked hard because he knew Zhang Zhao would never let him return to Khujand.

Nor was there even a single spare inch of land in the Fergana Valley for these captured Persian officers and soldiers.

But around Huwen City, it was still possible.

After several days of hospitality and one-on-one cultivation, Zhang Zhao finally won the allegiance of these dozens of great magnates. Whether Buddhist or Muslim, all declared they accepted his title of Gur-khan.

Of course, these fellows were also quite shrewd. The Gur-khan had gifted them brocade, treated them to fine wine and meat, and even promised to take them into the territory of the Shahi dynasty to make a tidy little profit. That was already giving them plenty of face.

These local magnates, long accustomed to being pushed around by every passing strongman, knew that if the Gur-khan had gone this far and anyone still failed to take the hint — heh! — then they could wait for the knife.

A river-crossing dragon like this, kindly of face but ruthless of heart, would surely slaughter your whole family if he said he would slaughter your whole family. That was a lesson they had summed up in blood and tears.

And so, after three days of feasting, the dozens of local magnates began one after another to offer up their own sons and younger kinsmen to join the Gur-khan's campaign against the Shahi dynasty.

The larger ones contributed two or three hundred cavalry or mounted infantry; the smaller ones contributed thirty or fifty men. They brought their own rations and weapons, and no compensation was required if they died — as long as they got the chance to loot.

In a crude little room, Zhang Zhao was writing a letter to Li Shengtian, informing him of the situation over the past two months. Since leading his army to Bukhara, he had not yet written to this imperial uncle, the Son of Heaven.

The letter's contents were simple. Zhang Zhao intended to restore the country of Bakhana, that is, the Fergana Valley, to its original name: Ningyuan.

This was the name Emperor Xuanzong of Tang had bestowed upon the king of Bakhana, and a princess of the imperial clan had even been married into that kingdom.

The second matter was a response to Li Shengtian's letter, in which he had mentioned that Khotan was preparing to establish the office of Governor-General above the prefecture level.

Originally, Khotan had only a small territory south of the Tianshan, itself about the size of a single governor-generalship, so using the prefecture as the highest administrative unit had been appropriate.

But now things were different. In less than three years, Zhang Zhao had conquered three territories for Li Shengtian: Shule, Suyab, and Ningyuan.

None of these three territories was smaller than Khotan's original domain, so continuing to use the prefecture as the highest local administrative unit truly would no longer do.

Zhang Zhao therefore approved Li Shengtian's proposal to establish four governor-generalships: Khotan, Shule, Suyab, and Ningyuan. This was also within his authority as Deputy King.

Among them, the Governor-General of Khotan would not be a permanent post, but would be held by the Khotan Son of Heaven himself or by a minister temporarily appointed by the Son of Heaven.

The Governor-General of Shule would be appointed by Li Shengtian himself, while the Governor-General of Suyab would of course be the current Acting Military Governor of Suyab, Guo Xuancheng.

But Zhang Zhao suggested that Li Shengtian add a Deputy Governor-General of Suyab, to be held by Li Guoshou, stationed at Talas — the father-in-law of Ayiguli and a descendant of Li Sizhong, Prince of Huaihua Commandery under the Tang.

Suyab was, after all, too far away, and the territory was large. Having someone there as a check and balance was a good thing, lest something embarrassing happen for everyone later.

As for the Governor-General of Ningyuan, for now it would of course be held in absentia by Li Shengtian's son, Li Congde, and formally enfeoffed once Li Congde returned. In the end, this post would rotate between the descendants of Li Congde and the descendants of Zhang Zhao.

The final matter was the establishment of a vassal state at Huwen City.

Zhang Zhao named this state Anyuan, with Prince Sadiq as its ruler and its capital at Huwen City.

Rashid Salman would be stationed at Hunduz, with his three thousand surrendered Persian troops as the core of the Anyuan Army, and Rashid Salman would serve as Army Commissioner of Anyuan.

Of course, this would only be implemented after Zhang Zhao departed. For these two offices, Great King Zhang had truly racked his brains.

Li Shengtian of Khotan styled himself Son of Heaven, but in reality he was only a king.

This... surely the vassal state of Khotan could not also have a king, could it?

In the end, he borrowed the clever little trick of our Great Song, which addressed the king of Western Xia as "Lord of the Xia State," and enfeoffed Prince Sadiq as Lord of the Anyuan State.

Rashid Salman's case was even more exaggerated. The highest military posts under Zhang Zhao in the Fengtian and Shunyi Armies were still set at Troop Commander. A post like Army Commissioner, with its implications of independence, was something Zhang Zhao had never even considered.

But this also showed that Great King Zhang did not actually care about the Anyuan State at all. He did not care when Prince Sadiq would betray him, nor when Rashid Salman would develop disloyal thoughts.

All he needed was to establish a small Silk Road from which everyone could benefit, bind everyone to the same rope, and thereby complete a small circulation from India to Chang'an, allowing him to continuously draw blood from this Silk Road to strengthen himself.

This small circulation was what mattered most to Zhang Zhao.

Without this Silk Road, after he returned east, he would only be able to rely on at most a hundred thousand or so Han people to rule over a million or more mixed barbarians.

That amount of strength would certainly be no match for the kings of the various states in the Central Plains, who commanded populations in the millions or tens of millions.

So an additional source of wealth was absolutely necessary!

Udabhandapura — this was the capital of the Hindu Shahi dynasty of India, located near what would later be Rawalpindi in Pakistan, right on the banks of the Indus River.

From the seventh to the eleventh century, this was the necessary passage for entering India from Transoxiana. The Great Tang Records on the Western Regions by Tang Sanzang recorded that the people here lived in wealth and happiness, treasures and goods piled high, and rare and exotic things from all quarters gathered here.

When the three magnates from Prince Sadiq's wife's clan, whom Great King Zhang had richly rewarded, arrived at Udabhandapura, they were so delighted they could hardly close their mouths.

For no other reason than this: the king of the Shahi dynasty, Modapala, was already preparing to march north on Huwen City.

Their mission had been accomplished with incredible ease. They had just received a huge reward from Great King Zhang, and when they reached Udabhandapura and Modapala heard from them that a violent coup had occurred in the Samanid dynasty — that Nasr II, who had beaten them badly ten years earlier, had been killed by his son Hamid — he was overjoyed and rewarded them handsomely once again.

They had thought it would be a deadly job with their heads hanging from their belts, but unexpectedly it went astonishingly smoothly. They had done almost nothing, and the matter had simply been accomplished.

Fifteen days later, the spies Modapala had sent to verify the news returned and reported that everything was true.

Prince Hamid had not only killed Nasr II, but had even driven his brother Sadiq to seek refuge in Huwen City.

Prince Sadiq was now in dire straits, and had even inquired of them whether he could borrow some troops from the great Shahi kingdom to fight his way back to Bukhara.

Hearing this, Modapala nearly laughed out loud. Borrowing troops — excellent! This was excellent!

To borrow troops, one would have to let his great army enter, wouldn't one? If handled well, he should be able to enter Huwen City without shedding a drop of blood.

And so, under Modapala's orders, the Shahi dynasty's already ongoing preparations for the northern campaign immediately shifted into full speed. He even dispatched formal envoys to Huwen City to make contact with Prince Sadiq.

Modapala did not have the nerve to borrow troops for seizing the throne, because he knew that purely in terms of distance, the Shahi dynasty did not have the strength to control Bukhara.

But under the pretext of borrowing troops to seize the throne, he did have the nerve to control Huwen City and recover the Shahi dynasty's former territory — and his nerve was very great indeed!

He had no choice but to do this, because eastern Afghanistan, with Huwen City at its head, was simply too important to the Shahi dynasty.

With Huwen City, their Shahi dynasty would be the strongmen descending from the north, able to continuously recruit warriors from the north and bring them back to India, then use them to conquer the other Indian kingdoms.

But without Huwen City, their Shahi dynasty would become the first target of plunder for the strongmen coming from the north.

Not only would they be unable to conquer the other Indian kingdoms, they would damn well have to become the meat shield for the other Indian kingdoms.

The meat of the Indian subcontinent was for everyone to share, but the beatings were to be borne by the Shahi dynasty alone. There was no such thing in this world.

The Hindu Shahi dynasty of history was exactly like this. They could never control Huwen City, which led to their defeat by the Ghaznavid dynasty that split off from the Samanids, and finally, at the height of their power, they abruptly perished.

So whether or not Zhang Zhao went to India, whether or not he dangled the bait, for its own survival the Hindu Shahi dynasty of India had no choice but to march north and attack Huwen City.

To use a somewhat imperfect analogy, Huwen City was to the Shahi dynasty what the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun were to the Central Plains — with it, they could at least preserve their lives; without it, they could only wait to be destroyed.

The Khyber Pass was indeed roughly as Zhang Zhao had imagined — it basically ran along the Kabul River valley all the way into India.

But the geography was not as favorable as later generations believed. The roads were rugged, the mountains high and the winds cold, the vegetation low and sparse.

When a strong wind rose, it blew yellow sand across the sky so that nothing could be seen even a few li away. Apart from an ample water supply, everything else was lacking.

Zhang Zhao now understood why such a vital passage had never had a fortified pass built in it.

What kind of soldiers would it take to hold a border post in such conditions? At the very least, the armored men of his Hanshan Capital Guard could not endure it.

If such soldiers existed, why bother defending the Khyber Pass at all? Just let the enemy in and beat them senseless — wouldn't that be simpler?

"Great King, let's stick with the elite-troops approach. They say the Hindu Shahi dynasty of India has mobilized thirty thousand men this time. In conditions this harsh, bringing thirty thousand men means chaos and crowding beyond belief. Let's pick three or four thousand crack troops and smash them in one battle!"

Ma Yaozi curled his lip, and his words brimmed with confidence. After two or three years of tempering, this rough fellow — who originally could only serve as a squad leader in the Guiyi Army, spending his days either scheming to make a little money or bedding Mei Niang — had actually acquired something of the bearing of a famous general.

"Great King, your servant agrees with Yaozi. This place is treacherous, with heavy winds and sand. If we brought in more than ten thousand men for an ambush, supplies and provisions would become a major problem.

Besides, there is nowhere to hide men. With too many troops, we would certainly be discovered early. Better to pick crack troops and strike by surprise."

Yan Jin also agreed with Ma Yaozi. These past days he had carefully inquired into the armaments and fighting strength of the Hindu Shahi dynasty of India.

They were... pretty pathetic! If they could only fight the Samanid dynasty's Mustafa conscript army to a standstill, how strong could they possibly be?

If the Samanid dynasty's ghulam guards could still be considered a dish worth serving, then the Shahi dynasty's army was not even worthy of the plate.

The Great King had led two thousand of them and taken on twenty thousand ghulams of Bughra Khan Satuq head-on, defeating an enemy ten times their number. What did thirty thousand Shahi soldiers amount to?

One must remember that before they arrived, the ghulam guards of Bughra Khan Satuq of the Karakhanid state were the ceiling of fighting power in Anxi and Transoxiana — higher even than the Khotan palace guards.

"However, the Shahi dynasty is fond of mobilizing war elephants. Those beasts are said to possess boundless strength, smashing through battle formations as easily as reaching into a bag to take something out!

Your servant once saw a colossal elephant skull in the Khotan palace — enormous beyond compare. We must guard against them!" The speaker

was Yin Yaozi. This cousin of Zhang Zhao was one of only two people close to him.

Back when the young Zhang Zhao had been exiled to Shouchang Town, Yin Yaozi, then only eight years old, had been sent by their great-uncle to stay at his side and grow up with him.

Any food sent to Zhang Zhao from outside was first eaten by Yin Yaozi; only after he had eaten without incident would Zhang Zhao eat.

After arriving in Anxi, Yin Yaozi gradually displayed a trait that set him apart from the others: though his martial prowess was not high, his mind was meticulous, and he was extremely skilled at logistics.

Calculating the grain an army needed, how much supply to carry, how to raise military provisions — he was a complete all-rounder.

Therefore, in Zhang Zhao's eyes, Yin Yaozi held very high status. Zhang Zhao always addressed him as Cousin.

When brutes like Man Xiong, Dunzhu, and Wang Tongxin got into conflicts, if Zhang Zhao was absent, the only one who could keep them in line was Yin Yaozi.

"Cousin, you are indeed a great talent. But I have long since prepared a decisive plan for dealing with the war elephants. Cao Shisi, bring out your secret weapon and show everyone!"

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