Chapter 23: Where to Go From Here

Ge Duo held a long spear, wearing the lamellar armor from his younger days, though it did not fit well and was a bit too small.

Zhang Zhao's guess was right: ten years ago Ge Duo had been a top-tier warrior, and countless Tibetan and Canwei warriors had died at his hands, but ten years later, he had long since fallen into corruption and decay.

Although he was a horse-bandit, and in Shazhou on the Hexi Corridor at that, where yellow sand stretched everywhere and produce was scarce, he was still a bandit chieftain who commanded several hundred horse-bandits and whose outlaw name rang through Gua and Sha.

Ge Duo lived quite well: six or seven wives and concubines, half a sheep at a single meal, a rear too big to fit in a saddle, a belly too big to wear lamellar armor — not a trace of his youthful valor remained.

This was also why Ge Duo had decisively fled: he cherished his life! People who are a bit older, a bit better off, and feel they ought to enjoy life cherish their lives the most! When danger comes, their first choice is how to preserve everything they already have.

"Wind! Wind! Wind! Wind!" The fervent shouts rang out. Wearing only a calf-nose loincloth, his bare torso showing a set of abdominal muscles, Zhang Zhao bounced nimbly twice.

In one hand he held a pointed hammer, in the other a hand shield. The louder the surrounding shouts, the more excited he became, as if he were back in the full-armor combat arena.

Ge Duo's face was extremely ugly. His dark-yellow face was frozen blue, his nose bright red, his hands somewhat stiff. He did not feel the "Wind! Wind!" war cries coming from all around were cheering him on; rather, they seemed to be sending him off to his death.

"I'll kill you! Aiya!" As the cold wind easily pierced his lamellar armor and made Ge Duo more and more miserable, he finally found a bit of his old feeling. His eight-chi-long spear thrust straight at Zhang Zhao's chest.

Too slow! The movement was too slow! Too obvious! Zhang Zhao could clearly feel that Ge Duo's martial strength was far inferior to that of the just-bandaged Qiong Reduojin. The spearhead's thrusting direction was far too obvious, and the speed and force of the thrust were insufficient.

'Pak!' Zhang Zhao lightly knocked it aside with his hand shield, easily deflecting Ge Duo's thrust. Ge Duo immediately pulled the spearhead back, wanting to thrust again, but Zhang Zhao gave him no chance. Brother Chao simply tossed the hand shield aside, grabbed the spearhead with his left hand, and pulled.

Ge Duo could not hold his strength and hurriedly dragged the spearhead back. The two struggled for several breaths, and then Zhang Zhao suddenly let go. Ge Duo, who had been pulling with all his might in a tug-of-war with Zhang Zhao, was caught off guard and fell to the ground like a barrel.

Too easy!

The surrounding Uyghurs, especially Bai Congxin, all wore expressions of being unable to bear watching.

They had never imagined that their Dagan, the Bald Tiger who had roamed Shazhou for over twenty years, would, once stripped of all his aura, be so utterly incapable of withstanding a single blow.

A trace of ruthlessness appeared on Zhang Zhao's face. He had no intention of letting Ge Duo go. You wanted to be a bridegroom in my father's place! You wanted to put a green hat on me! Are you even worthy, damn you?

Ge Duo, wearing thirty-odd jin of lamellar armor, had not yet stood up when Zhang Zhao pounced on him. His left hand pressed directly down on Ge Duo's helmet. No matter how the man punched and kicked, he would not let go. At the same time, his right hand drove the pointed hammer down point-first in a savage smash!

Once!

Twice!

Three times!

"Ah! Spare me! Spare me! Spare me!" The shrill screams and pleas for mercy rang out continuously. The fat Ge Duo's legs kicked wildly on the ground, raising clouds of dust.

Ge Duo, who had barely spoken since being captured, begged for mercy again and again, but Zhang Chao paid no attention at all. The pointed hammer continued smashing down on Ge Duo's helmet.

Gradually, the pleas for mercy became garbled, became extremely faint, became silence.

Gradually, Ge Duo stopped struggling, and his fat elephant-like legs stopped kicking.

Dead!

The fierce bandit Bald Tiger, who had roamed Shazhou for over twenty years and whom five years ago Cao Yijin had sent the Shouchang Border Commissioner, Military Governor's Escort Officer, and Senior General Luo Xianda with four hundred elite cavalry to capture without success, was thus pinned down by Zhang Zhao beside a nameless stream and beaten to death alive.

"Young Lord Erlang is mighty!" Just as Ge Duo stopped moving, Lady Cao Sanniang walked up. She spat contemptuously on Ge Duo's body.

"I beg the young lord to permit this slave to cut off this villain's head and bring it back to Dunhuang, to display the young lord's divine might!"

Damn! How does the Cao family raise its daughters? This woman kills and beheads people as casually as eating and sleeping. How is she like the granddaughter of a regional lord? She's Sun Erniang from Cross Slope!

"Bai Congxin, will you and the rest not bow and take the young lord as your master? Do you wish to be buried here?"

Having sought Zhang Zhao's approval, Lady Cao Sanniang did not rush to cut off the head. Instead, she shouted at the group of Uyghur horse-bandits who did not know what to do, and by the way, she shot a meaningful glance at Zhang Zhong behind Zhang Zhao.

Old Zhang Zhong had finally come back to his senses. This Ge Duo gang had actually been contacted by him! He had not only met Ge Duo; he had also had contact with Bai Congxin, Qiong Reduojin, and the others.

"Bai Congxin, Huang Yang'er, this old man made an agreement with you before. Ge Duo, whose lust was monstrous and who was faithless and unjust, has already been executed. Will you not quickly bow to the young lord?"

"May we ask how the young lord intends to deal with us?" The group of Uyghurs looked at one another, and in the end Bai Congxin stepped forward to speak. He was Ge Duo's clan nephew and usually had some prestige among the bandits.

Zhang Zhao smiled. At a time like this, they still wanted to bargain?

"It is not how I will deal with you, but how you will deal with yourselves. Shazhou, I will not seek to take. But Ge Duo is dead — do you still have anywhere to go? I fear you have lost even the chance to return to the Qilian Mountains, haven't you?"

These words made Bai Congxin and the others turn deathly pale. Although Ge Duo had long been fierce in appearance but weak in substance, he was still a banner, a banner that could rally men's hearts. Without Ge Duo, none of these bandits would willingly submit to another's leadership. Disbanding was right before their eyes.

But in the horse-bandit trade, even washing one's hands of it peacefully under normal circumstances was not easy, let alone disbanding like this.

Zhang Zhao guessed that they must have quite a few enemies. Once they lost the protection of the bandit group, it would be very hard to keep their own lives.

Moreover, they could not return to Ge Duo's old lair either. Ge Duo's kinsmen were there. They had watched Ge Duo be killed without helping, so they would not be accepted if they returned, and they might even meet with deadly disaster.

"The young lord's valor surpasses the age. We were also summoned by the young lord. If we do not take Shazhou, where should we go? We beg the young lord to instruct us!"

Bai Congxin still would not relent. Zhang Zhao glanced at this fellow with some surprise. His words were pleasant and his posture very humble, but he was the type who would not release the hawk until he saw the rabbit. He was quite good at keeping his composure.

Where to go from here? Zhang Zhao had been thinking about this question for a long time.

In truth, his situation was much the same as these bandits'. Wanting to return to a quiet life in Shazhou was impossible. If this incident had not happened, the Cao family might still have been able to tolerate him.

Because the original Zhang Zhao had been an utterly unremarkable good-for-nothing. A good-for-nothing had the advantage of being a good-for-nothing: the Cao family would not worry that he could stir up any waves, and it was not easy to target him.

Given the position of Cao Yijin and the Cao family in the two prefectures of Gua and Sha, if they could not even tolerate a good-for-nothing, it would easily invite criticism. That would not be worth it.

But now things were different. He, Zhang Zhao, had fought a hundred men alone and won a complete victory, and had personally hammered to death the fierce bandit Bald Tiger. Lady Cao Sanniang had even called him possessed of the valor of Qingji. Add to that the already-spreading blessing of the Grand Guardian's divine manifestation, and he was a living hero!

No matter how broad-minded the Cao family was, they could not possibly tolerate such a descendant of Zhang Chengfeng.

"I intend to go west!" Zhang Zhao thought for a moment, cleared his throat, and said.

"West?" Bai Congxin and Zhang Zhong looked at Zhang Zhao hesitantly.

At this time, west of Shazhou was a tribal confederation called the Zhongyun. These Zhongyun people, a union of Uyghurs, Canwei people, and other assorted Turkicized tribes, had formed the Zhongyun state and occupied Shanshan (Loulan), Putao City, Xincheng, Qiemo, Ruoqiang, and other places that had originally belonged to Shazhou.

That was not a good place to go! Bai Congxin's expression turned ugly, because this region was simply too poor and barren. Yellow sand stretched everywhere. If it were not for its position connecting east and west, it would almost be a dead land.

Shanshan, for example, had already migrated several times, the reason being that Puchang Sea (Lop Nur) kept shrinking and the surrounding oases kept decreasing.

This broken land — if it were rich, it would long ago have been occupied by Shazhou or the Gaochang Uyghurs. And even in such a broken land, those poverty-stricken Canwei people had still established an administrative system, with a state ruler, a chancellor, and governors. Poor, fierce, and even harder to tame.

Going to Zhongyun was even worse than going back to the Qilian Mountains to eat snow!

But while Bai Congxin and Zhang Zhong thought Zhang Zhao was going to Zhongyun to take refuge, one person knew otherwise. Lady Cao Sanniang, with Ge Duo's nearly hammered-flat head hanging at her waist, came over, her beautiful eyes gleaming with unusual brilliance.

"The young lord not only has the valor of Qingji, but also the wisdom of Zhuge, Martial and Spiritual King!

Khotan is a fine place to go! His Majesty Yuchi Sengwubo, the Great Sage and Enlightened Son of Heaven of the Great Dynasty, the Great Treasure Golden Kingdom, is the young lord's own maternal uncle. If the young lord is willing to return to Khotan on behalf of his mother, Princess Li of the Great Dynasty and Great Treasure, to visit her family, the Son of Heaven of the Golden Kingdom will surely be delighted to receive him, and the Great King Linggong will have nothing to say either."

Zhuge, Martial and Spiritual King, was Zhuge Liang. This was his title in the Tang dynasty. The Tang people already greatly admired Zhuge Liang.

The Kingdom of Jin is what later became the Kingdom of Khotan. Since the title "Kingdom of Khotan" was only bestowed in the third year of Tianfu (938) by Shi Jingtang, the child-emperor of the Later Jin, they currently call themselves the Kingdom of Jin.

The Great Son of Heaven, Great Sage and Great Bright One of the Great Dynasty, Great Treasure, Kingdom of Jin — Yuchi Sengwupo — is none other than the famous Li Shengtian of history, who held the Western Regions alone for a hundred years and upheld Han culture.

Li Shengtian's elder sister, the Princess Li of the Great Dynasty and Great Treasure, was the principal wife of Zhang Chengfeng — that is, Zhang Zhao's legal mother. Thus Li Shengtian is Zhang Zhao's rightful maternal uncle.

The Kingdom of Khotan is a great power in the Western Regions, its national strength surpassing even the Gaochang Uyghurs and the Kara-Khanid Khanate. Zhang Zhao going to seek refuge with Li Shengtian is indeed a brilliant move — not only can he distance himself from the Cao family, he can also gain support and room to maneuver in Khotan.

"Khotan!" Bai Congxin's eyes lit up at once. This truly was a good destination. Khotan was not only rich, it was also the home of Zhang Erlang's own maternal uncle. Far better than suffering bitterly in the Qilian Mountains, and better too than drifting about Shazhou.

This is the advantage of being descended from a great house. Bai Congxin and his men had roamed Shazhou for decades without even a place to shelter, yet Zhang Zhao, barely eighteen or nineteen, was welcomed wherever he went.

"Young lord! I beg the young lord to take us in. We are willing to follow the young lord through fire and water!"

Bai Congxin took the lead and knelt upon the ground still thick with the smell of blood. The Uyghurs around him knelt as well with a great rustling clatter.

"You say you'll follow, and that's that? You come when there's profit, and run when there's none. What gives you any claim to a share of Khotan's wealth?"

Qi Xiahu, who had been dissatisfied with these Uyghurs all along and felt deceived by them, was unwilling. Just now they had been hesitating and wavering, and now the moment they learned they could go enjoy themselves in Khotan, they came forward. There was no such easy bargain!

"Young lord! I know where Geduo's main camp is. In the camp there are still Geduo's kin and family to be rooted out, and more — salt, grain, cloth, and countless treasures. All the wealth Geduo has plundered over the years is in his main camp. I am willing to be the vanguard and take it for the young lord!" Bai Congxin gritted his teeth and produced a lure Zhang Zhao could not refuse.

Ah! Right! Geduo had rampaged across Shazhou for so many years — he must have countless treasures. A windfall like this, if not taken, would be wasted!

"Hahaha! Brother Bai, I, Zhang Zhao, am no lover of wealth. But this is a gift from Heaven — I must take it! Once we seize Geduo's treasure, I will share it with all you brothers. From now on we are one family — sharing fortune and enduring hardship together!"

Zhang Zhao's declaration also stirred up the surrounding Uyghurs. Geduo was ordinarily quite stingy; unless one was his trusted confidant, there was absolutely no taking advantage of him. And the man's savings were considerable. If Zhang Zhao was willing to share a portion with them, every man could receive quite a lot.

"Young lord, if you wish to take Geduo's treasure, you must bring me along. I know where Geduo hides his valuables!"

A dull voice came from behind the crowd. Zhang Zhao turned to look — it was Geduo's trusted man, the one Zhang Zhao had stabbed: Qiong Reduojin.

Qiong Reduojin walked slowly over, ignoring the pain of his wounds, and dropped to one knee before Zhang Zhao.

"Years ago Geduo gave me one small leather pouch of tsampa and saved my sister's life. So I protected Geduo for ten years. In those ten years I nearly lost my life several times, and I have long since repaid his kindness. My wound was bandaged by the young lord, so this life belongs to the young lord as well!"

Zhang Zhao walked slowly over. Although Qiong Reduojin wore an expression that said "don't leave me behind, I'm following you for good," Zhang Zhao could not treat him the way he treated Bai Congxin.

Because this man was the trusted confidant who stood with hand on sword even while Geduo drank and ate meat. His martial skill was not bad. If such a man were taken in too easily, who knew when he might plant a knife in you — that would be truly impossible to guard against.

"Young lord, this man was Geduo's confidant — he cannot be trusted! Bandaging his wounds is already great mercy. You absolutely must not take him in. Once his wounds heal, just drive him away!"

Zhang Zhong hurried over to advise him, fearing that Zhang Zhao would trust this fellow as easily as he had recruited Bai Congxin.

"If the young lord does not trust me — besides helping the young lord find Geduo's treasure, I also have several dozen kinsmen in Chaidan. The able-bodied men of my clan are skilled with bow and horse, and all can serve the young lord!"

Seeing that Zhang Zhao and the others did not quite believe him, Qiong Reduojin grew anxious.

"I don't need you to guide me to find Geduo's treasure. Under blade and axe, I don't believe Geduo's wife and children can hold out. Nor do I covet warriors skilled with bow and horse, because the Kingdom of Jin will have more!

But since I saved you, I am still willing to give you a chance. Give me one reason — one reason to trust you — and I will permit you to join me." Zhang Zhao nodded to Zhang Zhong, telling him to rest easy.

Qiong Reduojin gave a bitter smile, then a hopeful look flashed across his face. "Answering the young lord — I am actually not a man of Kucha. I was born a Tibetan slave-soldier. Without Geduo's protection, my clan would long ago have been cast out by the people of Kucha.

Now that Geduo is dead, if there is no other powerful chieftain to seek refuge with, my whole clan of several dozen souls has only a road to death.

Even at this very moment, this wound of mine will take about ten days to heal. This is no false-hearted offer of allegiance — truly, I want to live!"

Zhang Zhao said nothing, but looked back at Bai Congxin. Bai Congxin nodded.

"This man is called Qiong Reduojin. Earlier he was indeed a slave-soldier of the Lower Dongdai of Chaidan."

Dongdai was a combined military-civil office of the Tibetan Empire, sometimes translated as "chiliarch." Chaidan is the area of the later Qaidam Basin, lying in the Qilian Mountains directly south of Shazhou.

A Tibetan slave-soldier! Interesting!

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