Chapter 276: Scheming Against Each Other (Two Chapters in One)

In Zhang Zhao's great tent, Pei Yuan stroked the few strands of beard at his chin, his narrow eyes suddenly flashing with a crafty light, until the whole man looked somewhat like an old fox.

"May I ask the Army Commander: do you have the ambition to swallow up the Ganzhou Uyghurs? And do you believe you can swallow up the Ganzhou Uyghurs? What is the minimum objective you must achieve in this war? And what benefits do you hope to gain?"

Zhang Zhao nodded. There was something to this. A man who could ask such questions was thinking the way a proper strategist should. He considered for a moment.

"I do indeed have the ambition to swallow up the Ganzhou Uyghurs. To take Ganzhou, to hold the five great Hexi commanderies of Gua, Sha, Gan, Su, and Liang — that is my aspiration. And I do believe I can swallow Ganzhou.

But for the moment there are some difficulties. As for the minimum objective and the benefits to be gained — that depends first on the brave fighting of my generals, and second on you civil officials devising plans for me!"

"That the Army Commander is not made arrogant by a great victory is truly a blessing for our Guiyi Army!" Pei Yuan said with cupped hands, first offering Zhang Zhao a word of praise.

"The Ganzhou Uyghurs have a population of nearly three hundred thousand. Holding Ganzhou, controlling Suzhou to the west, and striking at the various Wenmo tribes to the east, they are at present the foremost power in Hexi.

Moreover, they bear a generations-old feud with the Guiyi Army. Although they have suffered this great defeat, unless the Army Commander thoroughly beats them into submission and puts to death all the close kin of the Yageluo clan, they will be truly difficult to pacify.

Furthermore, although the Liangzhou Wenmo are said to have six tribes, they have no unified leader, and Liangzhou is far richer than Ganzhou. The Army Commander's full energies at this time should be directed at Liangzhou, not at taking Ganzhou now.

For once you have recovered the six Wenmo tribes of Liangzhou, and then strike from both Gua-Sha and Liangzhou in a pincer, the Ganzhou Uyghurs will be like a turtle in a jar — sooner or later they will be captured by the Army Commander."

Zhang Zhao could not help applauding. This Pei Yuan truly had ability; his thinking coincided exactly with his own.

The Ganzhou Uyghurs were poor and fierce, and because of a hatred of over a hundred years with the Guiyi Army, they would be very hard to conquer. It was far better to put his energy into Liangzhou and the Wenmo tribes for now.

"Secretary Pei has great talent. Please, tell me everything!"

Seeing Zhang Zhao agree with his thinking, Pei Yuan felt somewhat pleased and moved. At last he had met a lord whose line of thought matched his own.

"Therefore, my suggestion is to do the easy first and the hard later — Liangzhou first, Ganzhou after.

As for the Ganzhou Uyghurs, although we have won a great victory over them at this time, we should not press them too hard, lest the dog leaps over the wall in desperation and drags things out. If we can obtain gold, silver, goods, and Suzhou, we should know when to stop while we are ahead.

The Army Commander may send two envoys. One should go to the place of Rengyu Khagan at Liaquan Garrison, speak to him of the stakes, and swear a new covenant with him. As long as Rengyu Khagan is willing to give up Suzhou and compensate our army's losses, we will let him go back.

The other should go to Yageluo Tongli, demanding Suzhou and gold, jewels, jade, warhorses, and arms from him, and stating plainly that if he agrees, we will send troops to storm Liaquan Garrison and kill Rengyu Khagan."

Liu Zaisheng frowned slightly. He looked at Pei Yuan and said, "Are the terms offered to Yageluo Tongli not somewhat ill-considered?

Gold, jewels, jade, warhorses, and arms are small matters. But if he suddenly leads a great army to attack while we are storming Liaquan Garrison, seeking to destroy us and Ganzhou's Rengyu Khagan together, what then?"

Pei Yuan gave Liu Zaisheng a slight bow and said with a smile, "Commander Liu is truly a man of upright character. The two envoys we send will certainly be one true and one false.

Rengyu Khagan has no way out and cannot but cooperate with us — that is true cooperation.

Yageluo Tongli harbors ill intentions and still has a great army in hand; he will certainly not cooperate with us sincerely.

If we truly acted according to our agreement with Yageluo Tongli, he would surely, as Commander Liu says, come to attack us, seeking to have both the fish and the bear's paw.

Therefore the envoy we send to Yageluo Tongli is merely to lull him.

Once Rengyu Khagan agrees to our terms, we will have Rengyu Khagan give Prince Jingqiong as a hostage.

As soon as Prince Jingqiong arrives, the Army Commander can select a great force, take him along, and launch a surprise attack on Yageluo Tongli. Then spread the rumor that Rengyu Khagan wishes to exterminate Yageluo Tongli — he will surely fall into chaos!"

As he spoke, Pei Yuan narrowed his eyes, and a cold, sinister smile rose to his face. "This plan can not only stir up infighting within the Yageluo clan, but also brand these Uyghur soldiers with the mark of rebellion.

So that even when Rengyu Khagan returns to Ganzhou city, he will not dare fully trust them. The political situation in Ganzhou will grow even more unstable. Once the Army Commander has finished taking Liangzhou, the great matter will be settled!

I have also heard that Lord Cao's daughter was married far off to Ganzhou, and bore the former Ganzhou Rengyu Khagan one son and two daughters. The Army Commander may demand them from Rengyu Khagan. Later, once Liangzhou is in hand, use the pretext of avenging Aduoyu Khagan to take complete control of Ganzhou."

"Guo Tiance!" Hearing Pei Yuan's scheme, Zhang Zhao was greatly delighted.

He had originally worried that while recovering the Liangzhou Wenmo, the Ganzhou Uyghurs would come out and make trouble or even loot a burning house. But the mine Pei Yuan had laid was enough to keep Ganzhou endlessly occupied with internal strife.

Guo Tiance, feeling his position as chief civil official was in grave danger, hurriedly stepped forward.

"I appoint you as special envoy to go to Liaquan Garrison and speak to Rengyu Khagan of the stakes. Do you dare go?"

"I respectfully obey your command. I will certainly be able to persuade Ganzhou's Rengyu Khagan to agree to all the terms!"

Guo Tiance answered loudly. What was there to dare or not dare? Unless Rengyu Khagan had gone completely mad and no longer even wanted his own life, he would absolutely not dare do anything to him.

After Guo Tiance withdrew, seeing Zhang Zhao's gaze sweeping over the people in the tent, Pei Yuan simply stepped forward directly.

"Army Commander, the mission to Yageluo Tongli carries heavy responsibility. Why not let your servant go?"

Zhang Zhao pretended to think it over, then slowly shook his head. In truth, he also felt Pei Yuan was the most suitable person to go.

"Yuying is my chief strategist. How could I let you plunge into danger? I do not permit it. Choose another man!"

Pei Yuan bowed all the way down. "That the Army Commander values me so, I am grateful beyond words. But this plan was proposed by your servant; choosing another man may lead to failure.

Besides, as long as Yageluo Tongli has not lost his mind, he will certainly not do anything to your servant. I beg the Army Commander to grant permission!"

That night, within the city of Liaquan Garrison, Guo Tiance was brought blindfolded before Ganzhou's Rengyu Khagan.

In these twenty days, Rengyu Khagan had truly come to understand what it meant to fall from heaven to earth.

Twenty days ago he had still dreamed of becoming the Khagan of all Uyghurs, but now he only wanted to keep his life.

At Guo Tiance's arrival, Rengyu Khagan was extremely delighted, yet his heart also sank straight to the bottom.

That an envoy had come at least proved two things. First, the commander of the great army from Ganzhou — his half-brother by a different mother, Yageluo Tongli — had very likely conceived other intentions.

The second thing was that the Guiyi Army had produced a man even harder to deal with than Cao Yijin.

A man who, with such an advantage, did not fantasize about entering Ganzhou and swallowing them up completely, but instead first slowly digested Suzhou, was an opponent of extreme patience and clear-headedness.

One must know that Ganzhou is a full twelve hundred li from Dunhuang, and the Guiyi Army's population is only a hundred or two hundred thousand. To rule Ganzhou across twelve hundred li was simply not something the Guiyi Army, at its size, could accomplish.

Even Suzhou they could not swallow in a short time; they could only continue to rely on the Long family to rule it.

This was also why Cao Yijin, having once broken into Ganzhou city, could only extort a great quantity of treasure and then prop up an Aduoyu Khagan.

Of course, this was also why his father, Renmei Khagan, had sent his elder brother Diyin to defeat the Guiyi Army several times beneath the walls of Dunhuang, yet still could not enter Dunhuang city.

The core territories of the two sides were too far apart, and their populations too small; neither could ever completely swallow the other.

Unless one could kill off most of the other side's core fighting men in one or two battles — otherwise it was absolutely impossible.

Yet although his nine-thousand-strong army had been utterly destroyed this time, and Suzhou lost, in fact Rengyu Khagan estimated that only three or four thousand had died on the battlefield or been captured; the rest would still make their way back to Ganzhou by various small paths.

At the same time, the Ganzhou Uyghurs' reserves were slightly thicker than the Guiyi Army's. Even without these three or four thousand warriors, at the extreme limit they could still field ten or twenty thousand men — not as a standing force, but enough to guarantee they would not be swallowed in one bite.

Now that the Zhang Erlang on the other side was a man who understood things, it was simple: follow the old rules. This time it was his turn to kneel and play the obedient son.

There was nothing shameful about it. Zhang Chengfeng had knelt to Renmei Khagan and played the obedient son; Aduoyu Khagan had knelt to Cao Yijin and played the obedient son. Now it was his turn, Rengyu, to kneel to Zhang Chengfeng's son Zhang Zhao and play the obedient son.

Damn it all — thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, and it really is true!

So when the lone Guo Tiance looked down his nose at Khagan Renyu, telling him to produce goods and wealth worth three hundred thousand strings of cash as ransom and compensation, and demanding that Cao Yijin's daughter and grandson return to live in Dunhuang, among other conditions—

And when he added, with great swagger, that there would be no bargaining, and that the only two possible answers were yes or no — Khagan Renyu agreed to everything in a flash, without haggling over a single coin.

Idiot! As long as I keep my life, in ten years your Guiyi Army will be weaker than us again, and then I'll settle accounts with you — so thought Khagan Renyu.

Moron! You think we can't do anything to you? This year the Military Governor takes Liangzhou, next year we strike from both sides, and then your whole family can have a happy reunion. Guo Tiance shot him a glance, and a sense of intellectual superiority welled up in him.

However, when the two of them got to the point that Prince Jingqiong must be sent as a hostage, and that Yaoluoge Tongli must withdraw his troops before Zhang Zhao would carry out the agreement, Khagan Renyu hesitated.

He did not imagine that Zhang Zhao wanted to leave him a scourge; rather, he assumed Zhang Zhao wanted to weaken the Ganzhou Uyghurs yet another notch.

"Honored envoy, if Military Governor Zhang repels Tongli and then refuses to honor the agreement, and still holds me captive, what then?"

Khagan Renyu stared hard into Guo Tiance's eyes, as if trying to read something there.

Guo Tiance gave a scornful smile and stared just as hard back at Khagan Renyu.

"Khagan, surely you don't think that at this point you still have any room to bargain with Military Governor Zhang? Back then, you only reached the walls of Dunhuang, and Military Governor Zhang's father had to..."

Guo Tiance did not finish the sentence, but the meaning was clear: after what you did back then, you still want to bargain now?

"Today the Khagan is little more than a prisoner. Yaoluoge Tongli holds twenty thousand cavalry and can hardly wait for you to die. Forgive my bluntness, but apart from trusting Military Governor Zhang, the Khagan has no second option!"

Guo Tiance's mission went smoothly; with no room left to maneuver, Khagan Renyu could only accept the terms in full.

And Pei Yuan's mission to Yaoluoge Tongli went even more smoothly.

If Zhang Zhao could help him eliminate Khagan Renyu, Yaoluoge Tongli could not have asked for anything better.

To seize great power without bearing the infamy of killing his sovereign — how fine that would be. So he could hardly wait for the Guiyi Army to go and kill Khagan Renyu right away.

Moreover, Yaoluoge Tongli put forward one small additional request: could Zhang Zhao also do away with Prince Jingqiong? If so, he would add another fifty thousand strings of goods and wealth.

For a moment, Zhang Zhao actually felt like cooperating with Yaoluoge Tongli for real, because in Tongli's reply he sensed just a trace of sincerity.

But very quickly, Zhang Zhao pushed that small personal sentiment aside.

Yaoluoge Tongli commanded close to twenty thousand men and was Zhang Zhao's greatest threat at present. Even if he truly was sincere, he was not a good trading partner; the slightest change, and Zhang Zhao could suffer a heavy loss.

Prince Jingqiong was a youth of seventeen — though in this era, seventeen already counted as an adult.

But Zhang Zhao clearly did not treat him as an adult; he treated him as a tool. After a few perfunctory words of conversation, Zhang Zhao had Prince Jingqiong taken away.

The next person brought in was Yaoluoge Tongli's trusted confidant. This confidant, who had come to Zhang Zhao's camp together with Pei Yuan, was mainly responsible for two matters.

On the surface, he was there to confirm Khagan Renyu's death, but secretly, Zhang Zhao suspected, his main task was simply to see with his own eyes that Zhang Zhao dispatched troops to attack Shouzhuo City.

The second matter was to discuss the delivery location with Zhang Zhao, because Zhang Zhao had proposed that he must receive goods and wealth worth at least fifty thousand strings before he would take action.

Taking fifty thousand strings first — that was the figure Zhang Zhao and his civil and military officers had calculated.

Yaoluoge Tongli had come to fight a war, not to do business, so he could not possibly be carrying several hundred thousand strings of goods and wealth with him.

But fifty thousand strings — even if he did not have it on him, he could quickly gather it from the nearby towns.

"Then please have the envoy reply to Khagan Tongli: if I see the fifty thousand strings within three days, the agreement takes effect immediately. If I do not see it within three days, I may consider doing this business with Khagan Renyu instead!" Zhang Zhao said, his face full of eagerness, as he threatened Yaoluoge Tongli's confidant.

The confidant paid no mind to Zhang Zhao's attitude; all he needed right now was to confirm that Zhang Zhao had the sincerity.

From what the confidant had observed along the way, the Guiyi Army had only a few thousand men, exhausted and with worn-out horses; that they did not want to fight another battle was all but certain.

If he were Zhang Erlang, extorting three hundred thousand strings and then going back to slowly digest Suzhou would absolutely be a fine choice.

"Military Governor Zhang, rest assured: the first batch of fifty thousand strings of goods and wealth will be delivered to the designated location within three days. It is just that at that time, I fear we will have to ask Military Governor Zhang to lead troops in person to collect it."

"That is no problem. Only, the matter of transferring away the two nearby thousand-man cavalry units — I would ask your master to handle it as soon as possible.

It would be best if tribes loyal to Khagan Renyu could be left to guard this place, so that we can make it look more convincing."

Zhang Zhao said, feigning a helpful reminder, then personally saw the confidant out. This Yaoluoge Tongli really was a talent — he was already thinking about the fallout.

He was still unwilling to simply hand the fifty thousand strings of goods and wealth over to Zhang Zhao, and had come up with the clever trick of letting Zhang Zhao go plunder it himself.

That way Yaoluoge Tongli's suspicion was washed clean: he had not sent goods and wealth to the Guiyi Army; they had merely, by unfortunate chance, been robbed by them.

"Prince Jingqiong, do you understand now who it is that truly wants the lives of you and your father?"

Prince Jingqiong, whom Zhang Zhao had ordered taken away, had not gone far; he had hidden behind the armor hanging in the tent. The seventeen-year-old prince was already red-faced with fury.

"Shameless traitor! Every man has the right to kill him! Many thanks to Military Governor Zhang for telling me!"

For an instant Zhang Zhao could not tell whether Prince Jingqiong was genuine or putting on an act, but he decided not to dwell on that question, and instead turned to discussing the details.

"Three days from now, the Prince will go with me to collect these fifty thousand strings of goods and wealth. Persuading the thousand-man commander guarding the goods, who is loyal to you and your father, to surrender — that should be no problem, right?"

Yes — the surprise attack Zhang Zhao planned would use this collection as cover.

To make everything look real, Yaoluoge Tongli would surely transfer away some of the surrounding troops, which would greatly help Zhang Zhao lie in ambush closer by.

Then, with Prince Jingqiong persuading the thousand-man commander loyal to Khagan Renyu to surrender, they would have a guide for the surprise attack.

Strange how things worked: two opponents who had just been fighting to the death might now join forces — and it was a Uyghur prince helping Zhang Zhao fight his own people.

"What does Yuying think of Prince Jingqiong?" After Prince Jingqiong had left, Zhang Zhao, heedless of the late hour, summoned Pei Yuan again to discuss matters. Yuying was Pei Yuan's courtesy name.

Pei Yuan looked at Zhang Zhao and chuckled. "If the Military Governor is asking me this question, he must already have made up his mind. Khagan Renyu's life is surely forfeit, is it not?"

"Correct!" Zhang Zhao nodded. "I have thought it over from every angle. This Khagan Renyu can be counted among the capable khagans of Ganzhou's history. Letting him go back would be most unwise.

Moreover, Yaoluoge Tongli very likely will not last long. Better to kill him, and let Prince Jingqiong and Yaoluoge Tongli, uncle and nephew, have their great free-for-all."

Pei Yuan silently gave Zhang Zhao twenty-four thumbs up. Adapting to circumstances and still able to lower his face — turning on someone as easily as turning a page — that was what made a worthy lord.

Northeast of Liaoquan Shouzhuo City, at the southern foot of Heli Mountain, there was a small market town called Jiashan.

This place was roughly located at Pingchuan Town in Gaotai County of the later Republic. The fifty thousand strings of goods and wealth that Yaoluoge Tongli was giving Zhang Zhao were stored in this small market town, guarded by a thousand-man commander loyal to Khagan Renyu.

It was now the hour of yin, before the sky had begun to lighten. According to the agreement between the two sides, Zhang Zhao was to launch a surprise attack here with a large force at the hour of shen in the afternoon and seize the supplies.

But Zhang Zhao had no intention of following the agreement by the book. Who knew whether Yaoluoge Tongli might be digging a pit for him?

Jiashan was about ten li from the mountain pass Zhang Zhao was holding, so Zhang Zhao had to set out at the beginning of the yin hour — that is, at three in the morning.

The "cook at the third watch, march at the fifth watch" so often mentioned in Romance of the Three Kingdoms was no simple matter in this era.

A very simple truth: the third watch is around one in the morning. Your average common soldier, for the pittance he earns in a year — getting up at one in the morning to prepare to march into battle? What are you thinking?

Even with military law driving them, they would still dawdle — dawdle over eating, over mustering, over setting out.

And in an army, this sort of thing spreads with terrifying speed. Once everyone really began dawdling, it would become a collective will, and no military law would be of any use.

An army that can rise before dawn to eat and march out at the fourth or fifth watch is absolutely an army of extremely high organization — something even ordinary elite troops cannot manage.

Zhang Zhao happened to have just such a force under his command. This Guiyi Army, which had fought its way with him across Anxi, Transoxiana, and India, possessed precisely that level of organization.

And so, when Zhang Zhao crept up to Jiashan, the Uyghur chiliarch charged with guarding it never even reacted.

Ma Yaozi led thirty picked warriors in, and in no time they had the chiliarch trussed up and dragged out of his sleep.

The chiliarch clearly had never imagined the Guiyi Army would bypass the main force and slip all the way to him. Jiashan held some supplies, true, but it was hardly the most critical grain and fodder — surely it did not warrant a night raid?

The next moment, he saw Prince Jingqiong, and the chiliarch's head grew even more muddled.

These Shazhou Han had come to aid the Khagan — it was the Khagan's brother Tongli who was the rebel.

The chiliarch could not suppress a shiver, and immediately declared that he remained loyal to Khagan Renyu.

A petty chiliarch like him was no confidant of Yageluo Tongli in the first place; how would he dare get mixed up in the infighting of the khan's house?

But now that Prince Jingqiong himself had appeared, there was simply no explaining it away. The chiliarch could only do as Zhang Zhao demanded and lead them past one sentry post after another, bringing them straight up behind the main camp of Yageluo Tongli's great army.

By this time the sky was only just beginning to lighten. The Uyghurs in the Jiashan market were still fast asleep, utterly unaware that their chiliarch had already been seized and turned into a guide for the enemy.

Yageluo Tongli had pitched camp beside the Zhangye River. From where Zhang Zhao stood, the long chain of the Heli Mountains stretched like a city wall across the north bank of the Zhangye River.

And between the mountains and the river lay a narrow plain over a hundred li long and a dozen or so li wide.

The climate here was mild and irrigation convenient; it was the finest part of the entire Liaoquan garrison district, and one of the best agricultural belts in all of Ganzhou.

This place alone was beyond anything the Guiyi Army had except Shouchang Township. No wonder the Guiyi Army, holding only the two townships of Gua and Sha, could not outlast the Ganzhou Uyghurs.

Historically, had the Liao and the Western Xia not coveted Ganzhou's wealth and attacked it time and again, the fate of the Guiyi Army would surely have been annexation by the Ganzhou Uyghurs.

"Bai Congxin, Ma Shacai, Murong Xinzhang, Li Cunhui, Hu Guang — each of you take one du as the vanguard!

Qiong Reduojin, Zhang Liecheng, Guo Guangcheng, Pei Tongyuan, Ashina Sili — you form the main body!

Armored cavalry, shed your armor and wear only mail hauberks. Light cavalry in front, charge in waves, and you must punch through the enemy camp.

The rest of you, dismount with me and fight on foot, clearing the remaining enemy camp by camp!"

Under Zhang Zhao's orders, the battle lost all suspense from the very start. When the Guiyi Army attacked, the Uyghurs were still preparing their morning meal.

Yageluo Tongli had indeed harbored ill intentions — he had planned to ambush Zhang Zhao while Zhang Zhao was dealing with Khagan Renyu — but he had never imagined Zhang Zhao would come to ambush him first.

In the chaos, this ambitious fellow could not possibly organize any resistance. Protected by his trusted tribesmen, he mounted his warhorse in nothing but his underclothes and, in the cold wind of late spring, fled at full gallop along the Zhangye River toward Ganzhou.

As for the seventeen or eighteen thousand Ganzhou Uyghur cavalrymen who had been levied, they exploded in an instant.

For a time, the whole narrow plain was a scene of wolves fleeing and boars bolting, with running figures everywhere.

It even threw Zhang Zhao's own several thousand men into confusion. As the fighting went on, only a little over a thousand remained at Zhang Zhao's side; the rest had been carried away by the thrill of battle and scattered as they fought.

Almost at the very moment Zhang Zhao struck Yageluo Tongli's main camp, upheaval also erupted in the Liaoquan garrison town.

The man charged with holding Liaoquan garrison town was Hu Cile. Zhang Zhao had given him three hundred light cavalry and three hundred infantry, thinking that with his experience he would surely be able to keep Khagan Renyu penned up in the garrison town.

But at the yin hour, both gates of the garrison town swung open, and six or seven hundred cavalry suddenly burst out of the city.

They quickly split into a dozen or more small squads and fled in different directions. In his urgency, Hu Cile could only divide his own force and give chase in all directions.

On the garrison town's walls, several dozen men dressed as old farmers watched in silence as dust rolled in every direction and riders chased one another across the landscape.

A middle-aged man with sparse hair, no beard at all, and a tattered hemp robe reeking of sweat raised his head to the sky and let out a long sigh.

"Zhang Erlang, for today's grudge of cutting my hair and shaving my beard, I will repay you tenfold one day!"

This fellow was none other than Khagan Renyu. His face was filthy, his hair cropped short, his beard gone, and he wore a stinking hemp robe.

Even if Prince Jingqiong had been standing right there, he might not have recognized him. So he had never left the city at all — he had remained inside the garrison town.

Khagan Renyu was about to say a few more face-saving words when his nephew Yageluo Siyi grew anxious and dragged him toward the Zhangye River, where several small fishing boats were moored.

This was the true escape route Khagan Renyu had planned: first drift downstream to the lower reaches of the Zhangye River, then find a Uyghur tribe to escort him back to Ganzhou. The cavalry that had just charged out were nothing but a diversion.

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