Chapter 279: The Military Governor Is Our Sogdian Great Khan

Just as Yang He was making contact with the monks of Great Cloud Temple, Pei Yuan had already planted himself before the descendants of the former Left and Right Wing Commanders of the Tianping Army and the clan head of the Guzang Li family.

Back then, when the Tianping Army from Yunzhou was sent west to garrison Liangzhou, it was divided into two wings, and the Court-appointed Commander, Inspector Qu, had long since returned to the Central Plains.

The soldiers who remained took the Left and Right Wing Commanders as their leaders, and after seventy or eighty years, these soldiers were now in their third or even fourth generation.

They were mainly of the five surnames Sun, Liu, Ma, Cui, and Wang, and the man now acting as head of these Tianping Army descendants was Liu Shaoyan, Escort Officer of the Hexi Military Governor and Concurrent Grand Commissioner of Revenue.

The head of the Guzang Li clan was an old man named Li Jianhou, whose office was Hexi Military Governor's Administrative Assistant.

The Guzang Li clan, however, was presently rather hollow, for although their name carried weight, their numbers were small — only a little over a thousand people.

"Commissioner Liu, Administrative Assistant Li, I truly do not understand what you two are still hesitating over. Must blades and axes be laid upon your bodies before you regret it too late?

It was Acting Military Governor Li who led us in killing Military Governor Sun on charges of corruption, but what now?

Military Governor Sun's fine fields and great mansions have also largely fallen into Acting Military Governor Li's hands. We have borne the infamy of murdering a superior, and all we got in return was a bit of poor land.

Though I, Pei, come from the Central Plains, I cannot be counted an outsider, for it was my grandfather who sent your forefathers to this vital frontier post.

Were it not for that connection, I could simply ignore you, sit back and watch you be slaughtered by the six Wenmo tribes, and let your descendants sink into barbarian dust. Ah!"

As Pei Yuan spoke, he let out a long sigh. His grandfather, it turned out, was Pei Shi, the Tianping Army Military Governor who had dispatched the two thousand five hundred Yunzhou troops to Liangzhou.

This was also the reason he could serve as the representative of the Liangzhou Tianping Army descendants and go to Shazhou to seek help.

Liu Shaoyan hesitated for a moment. As for the Guiyi Army, he was in truth no stranger to it.

Twelve years earlier, he had personally gone to Dunhuang to request aid from the Guiyi Army, but in those days Cao Yijin had only just stabilized the situation, and with the Ganzhou Uyghurs blocking the way, there had been no strength to spare for rescuing Liangzhou.

In fact, the Guiyi Army's influence over Liangzhou ran deeper than Zhang Zhao imagined.

Twelve years before, in 925, after the Central Plains court could no longer look after Liangzhou, the Han people who remained there still regarded the Guiyi Army as their superior, as their hope.

Only after Liu Shaoyan returned empty-handed from that mission did the Han people of Liangzhou realize that the Guiyi Army was already trapped in Gua and Sha, and could no longer be counted on.

"Captain Pei, is the situation truly so perilous? Acting Military Governor Li still has three hundred yabing guards in hand. Those Wenmo bandits would starve sooner or later without the grain we sell them — would they really dare make trouble?"

The speaker was a sturdy young man with a broad face and wide mouth named Cui Huxin, Hexi Military Governor's Chief Front Office Officer, a man of great authority among the younger generation of the Tianping Army.

"Does Cui Sanlang truly believe three hundred yabing guards can withstand tens of thousands, even a hundred thousand and more, Wenmo? It is precisely because the Wenmo will starve without our grain that they are certain to rise and make trouble. With blades in hand, what worry is there over lacking grain?

These past three years, Acting Military Governor Li has squeezed the various tribes while indulging in every extravagance himself. Never mind the Wenmo — even we, and the Sogdians west of the city, live in extreme hardship. The situation in Liangzhou is like an autumn wildfire on a mountain: the eruption is right before our eyes."

"Young Pei, in your judgment, what sort of man is this Zhang Erlang? In years past, we Liangzhou folk several times brought the Guiyi Army into Liangzhou, yet in the end they could never settle the six Wenmo tribes, and each time they withdrew, the situation grew more perilous by a degree.

Now you know as well: although we sons of Tang still hold the Military Governor's office, and the several hundred thousand mu of fine fields outside the city are still ours, the power of the six Wenmo tribes has already taken shape.

They are many and strong, and have long harbored covetous designs. If we bring in Zhang Erlang and he still cannot settle them, then when they turn on us in the future, I fear the disaster will be total ruin!"

Pei Yuan looked at Liu Shaoyan and gave a bitter smile. "Elder Liu, it is not that the Guiyi Army cannot suppress the Wenmo, nor that they cannot hold Liangzhou. In truth, it is the court that will not permit it.

Why did our ancestors come here from Yunzhou, thousands of li away? Was it not by the court's arrangement?

The Guiyi Army's several thousand troops today are all descendants of the soldiers and officers who were once stranded in Anxi and Hexi. In Anxi, Transoxiana, and India they destroyed kingdoms without number and rarely met their match. They are truly the finest troops I have ever seen in my life — perhaps only slightly inferior to the Son of Heaven's imperial guard in Luoyang.

Zhang Erlang of Shazhou is of the direct bloodline of Grand Guardian Zhang. Far-sighted, brave and resourceful, and moreover firm of temperament.

Most important of all, this man has the manner of one who is benevolent and righteous. At times he seems a bit pedantic, lacking a little of the heroic dash of a young champion, not dashing enough — but following him puts one's heart most at ease.

The Liangzhou Wenmo are, in truth, like the descendants of the Anxi Army and the descendants of the Hexi Army: all descendants of Great Tang soldiers and civilians who fell into barbarian dust.

People sent west by the court often cannot comprehend this suffering. That is why, in the seventy years since Grand Guardian Zhang recovered Liangzhou, no one has soothed the various Wenmo tribes and brought them back to Tang, thus creating today's perilous situation.

But Zhang Erlang will surely feel this pain as his own. If there is anyone who can turn the six Wenmo tribes — even the several hundred thousand Wenmo of the He-Huang valley — from barbarians back to Han, it is surely this man!"

Pei Yuan's eyes shone as he spoke; every one of these descriptions was his true inner feeling.

The point about being somewhat pedantic was the one he felt most deeply. Back then, he had urged Cao Yuande to lure Zhang Erlang into a trap and kill him, and then passed the news to Zhang Zhao through the Khotan Heavenly Sage Princess.

He had fully believed that once Zhang Zhao learned Cao Yuande intended to entrap him, he would surely march a great army straight on Dunhuang, at which point he would contact the Heavenly Sage Princess and others to collaborate from within and without, selling Dunhuang for a stepping-stone to advancement.

To his utter surprise, Zhang Erlang, for the sake of avoiding further bloodshed, risked his priceless person in danger, forcing him to change tactics on the spot and make Liangzhou the issue — and he nearly got his skull smashed in by a pottery jar from Zhang Erlang.

But thinking on it now, he was indeed a bit pedantic — yet that was precisely what set one's mind at ease!

Following a lord like that, one never need worry that a moment's offense would cost one's life. So long as one did the work, there was always a share of wealth and honor to be had.

Liu Shaoyan, meanwhile, stared at Pei Yuan somewhat dumbfounded. He did know something of this high-born scion who had come from the Central Plains.

Though a man of great talent, he always carried the arrogance of an aristocratic house — one could say he was brimming with a sense of superiority. Liu Shaoyan had never seen Pei Yuan praise anyone so highly.

"Elder Liu, if this Zhang Erlang is truly as Secretary Pei says — no! Even if he has but seven-tenths of his great-grandfather Grand Guardian Zhang's ability, we can stake our lot on him!

My Guzang Li clan has dwelt in Liangzhou for several hundred years. It cannot all be ruined in the hands of an unfilial descendant like me, can it?

The Wenmo tribes multiply by the day and have long had their eyes on the several hundred thousand mu of fine fields in our hands. We had pinned our hopes on Acting Military Governor Li, but who could have known — ah!

He will not even shield me, his own uncle. All he thinks of is grabbing enough and then running off to the Eastern Capital to live in ease."

Li Jianhou's face was full of disappointment. Liangzhou Acting Military Governor Li Wenqian was his clan nephew. He had hoped this nephew could unite some people and keep suppressing the six Wenmo tribes, or at least leave a way out for the Guzang Li clan.

But as it turned out, Li Wenqian had long since abandoned the Guzang Li clan, thinking only of working his connections at court and leaving this great Hexi city that was on the verge of turning barbarian.

Liu Shaoyan looked left and right. The clan heads and elders all nodded gently at him.

"In that case, Secretary Pei and I shall go together to see Acting Military Governor Li. If we let him go on like this, none of us will have a way to live."

Li Wenqian was also waiting for Pei Yuan to return. This Hexi Acting Military Governor and Concurrent Prefect of Liangzhou, appointed by the Later Tang court, had long since lost hope for Liangzhou.

A few years earlier, he and the Liangzhou notables had seized the chance of the previous Acting Military Governor Sun Chao's grave illness to kill him. After seizing power in Liangzhou, he had wanted to make an effort, but before long, this Acting Military Governor Li had given up.

The reason was simple: the Han people of Liangzhou numbered only twenty or thirty thousand, while the six Wenmo tribes around Liangzhou city numbered over two hundred thousand.

If one counted the Wenmo tribes north of Lanzhou and in the He-Huang valley, there were at least six or seven hundred thousand. Such a terrifying disparity in population was enough to drive Li Wenqian to despair.

After that, his plan had changed. No longer was it to rule this Hexi metropolis together with the Liangzhou Han, nor to carry on the Guzang Li clan that had endured for over a thousand years.

Instead, he would grab all he could as fast as he could, then buy an office from the court in the Eastern Capital, go anywhere at all, live out his days as a rich man, and avoid being hacked to death by barbarians here.

"Is that Yuying back? If Elder Liu has no urgent business, please wait a moment — I have a jade piece here I'm not sure about; let Yuying take a look for me first!"

Li Wenqian was very tall, at least six chi, around one meter eighty-five. Though his pot belly was already quite obvious, years of martial training had left a deep martial bearing on his frame.

Completely at odds with the name Wenqian, Li Wenqian was in fact a typical Tang-dynasty fighting man.

Rough and overbearing with a touch of cunning, he did not match the image of a polite, frail scholar that a name like Wenqian suggested in the slightest.

Actually, this was normal. Liangzhou's situation was complex, with various tribes intermingled and living side by side, their conflicts prominent, and it was perfectly ordinary for them to trade blows with one another all year round.

Li Wenqian had grown up in just such an environment, so naturally he could not possibly be some bookish scholar-general.

Before becoming Acting Military Governor of Hexi, he too had been a fierce general who stood men on his fists and ran horses across his arms. It was only after reality had knocked him down that he rapidly degenerated into a black fat man who cared about nothing but raking in money.

This so-called jade appraisal was nothing but a pretext. Li Wenqian simply wanted to send Liu Shaoyan away so he could learn how Pei Yuan's trip to the Guiyi Army had turned out.

Pei Yuan glanced at the several burly men beside Li Wenqian. These were all yabing guards Li Wenqian had recruited.

Most were Li Wenqian's former subordinates from his soldiering days, and a small portion were stout and brave men recruited from Lan, He, and other prefectures. These men were Li Wenqian's last line of defense.

"What did the Caos say? Are they willing to send men?" As soon as Liu Shaoyan had gone down, Li Wenqian asked Pei Yuan impatiently.

He had raked in about as much money as he could, but this was not like later ages, when one could simply deposit it in a bank card.

Wealth and goods in this era, even if all converted into gold, silver, silk, and satin, were by no means light or easy to move.

To travel smoothly from Liangzhou to the Central Plains without a large escort of soldiers was utterly impossible.

Yet for all his strenuous efforts, Li Wenqian had only managed to recruit these three hundred men, and he was reluctant to recruit more, since these men also cost money.

So Li Wenqian had thought of a "fine idea": to seek help from the Cao family of the Guiyi Army.

What Liangzhou meant to the Guiyi Army went without saying, so Li Wenqian had promised the title of Commander of the Hexi yabing guards camp, indicating he could agree to the Guiyi Army sending five hundred troops to Liangzhou.

But of those five hundred, three hundred were to be detached to escort him eastward, at least as far as the territory of the Xiongwu Military Governor in Qinzhou. That way he could freeload several hundred of the Cao family's troops.

Originally, going first to Lingzhou, seat of the Lingwu Military Governor, and then on to the Eastern Capital would have been the shortest route, but the Lingwu Military Governor had long harbored designs on swallowing up Liangzhou. Li Wenqian did not dare go to Lingzhou; if he went, he would surely end up losing both his money and his life. So he chose to go to the Eastern Capital by way of the Xiongwu Military Governor's territory in Qinzhou.

Watching Li Wenqian's uneasy expression, Pei Yuan sneered inwardly. The reason Li Wenqian had sent him was, in fact, because he valued Pei Yuan's identity.

Though the great clans had long since fallen from power, a family like the Pei of Wenxi still maintained a certain network of connections.

If Li Wenqian went to the Eastern Capital and wanted to keep his wealth and live as a rich man, or even seek some minor official post, he would need the Pei of Wenxi to pull strings for him.

Of course, he could only turn to a family like the Pei of Wenxi. If he went to those military men, they would simply devour him alive.

Compared to the military men of the Five Dynasties, the old clans, their prestige long gone, were still far gentler. No—one might say that any normal person was gentler than a Five Dynasties military man.

"Reporting to the Acting Military Governor: Lord Cao is gravely ill and has long been unable to handle affairs. Fortunately, the Military Governor's deputy, Lord Cao, is wise and righteous, and has already agreed to dispatch five hundred yabing guards to Liangzhou. They will arrive within days."

Pei Yuan put away his inner sneer and answered with feigned deference.

"Hmph! Spare me this talk of wisdom and righteousness. Their Guiyi Army has always coveted Liangzhou, and this Cao Yuande naturally would not let such an opportunity pass.

I've heard from merchants coming from the west that the Guiyi Army has again fought a great battle with the Ganzhou Uyghurs and seems to have seized Suzhou. Could it be they truly intend to attack Liangzhou once more?"

The moment he heard the Guiyi Army had agreed to send men to escort him, and his heart had settled a little, Li Wenqian actually began to feel uneasy.

This was Liangzhou! The essence of the Five Liangs. His own ancestor, the Xing Sheng Emperor Li Gao, had once held sway over this very region.

"My lord, the Cao family is no longer under Cao Yuande's control. The one in power now is Cao Yuanzhong.

The Guiyi Army has indeed defeated the Ganzhou Uyghurs and seized Suzhou, but defeating the Uyghurs will likely not be easy.

And by then, my lord will long since be enjoying himself in the Eastern Capital. Let them fight over this place!"

Pei Yuan had keenly sensed something slightly amiss, and immediately corrected Li Wenqian's mistaken belief that Cao Yuande was still the one in power in the Guiyi Army.

The muscles of Li Wenqian's black, fat face twitched, and suddenly a trace of delight appeared. The look he gave Pei Yuan grew even more affectionate.

"So that is how it is. Many thanks for the reminder, Yuying. Once we return to the Eastern Capital, I may well have to trouble you to toil on my behalf.

Recently I acquired a white jade suanni carved from superior Khotan jade. A crude fellow like me knows nothing of such things, so it is only fitting to give it to Yuying."

"Many thanks for the gift, Acting Military Governor! I shall serve with all my heart and strength!"

Pei Yuan cupped his hands in thanks, inwardly sighing. Not easy! For this miser of an Acting Military Governor Li to suddenly turn generous, he must truly be desperate.

"When will the Guiyi Army's yabing guards arrive?" After painfully parting with a white jade suanni, Li Wenqian could no longer sit still.

These past days he had felt more and more that something was wrong—not only with those Wenmo people, but also with the descendants of the Yunzhou troops, and even with the Li family's own kinsmen.

"I came back ahead of the main force. The Guiyi Army's yabing guards are led by a Yan-surnamed yamen Troop Commander. They will certainly arrive within three days!"

"Good! Yuying, for these next few days, why not stay here in the governor's residence? I have prepared some beauties and fine wine as a reward. Once Troop Commander Yan arrives, we shall immediately prepare to set out eastward!"

This was to prevent Pei Yuan from going out and being won over by others or forming connections. But it was already too late. Pei Yuan had long made preparations, secretly meeting Liu Shaoyan and Li Jianhou first before coming to see Li Wenqian.

Moreover, Commander Zhang had many capable men under him. Once they entered Liangzhou city, there would be no need for Pei Yuan to make any connections himself.

At once Pei Yuan put on an expression of utter infatuation. "Then many thanks to the Acting Military Governor!"

Compared to Pei Yuan's task of contacting the Han people of Liangzhou, the monk Hui Xing and Yang He's task of winning over the monks of Dayun Temple, and Zhang Liecheng's task of handling the Sogdians west of the city, were far easier.

The Sogdians were an extremely peculiar ethnic group in the Great Tang.

These Sogdians, whom the Tang court called the Nine Zhaowu Clans, had begun as merchants and later gradually expanded into politics and the military.

The current Chengde Military Governor An Zhongrong and Jingnan Military Governor Kang Fu were typical Sogdians.

Besides those in military, political, and commercial circles, Sogdians had even come to the Central Plains to farm.

Among the various tribes of Daibei, large numbers of Sogdians had taken over farming from the other tribes and become complete farmers.

The population of these Nine Zhaowu Clan Sogdians in the Great Tang, in the Central Plains, even far exceeded the population in their homeland.

After their homeland had become Persianized and Turkified, the Central Plains had instead become their true home.

The Sogdians of Liangzhou were led by the Cao family, though the Caos had been deeply Tibetanized, and had even changed their surname to Cao Wan. The other families—An, Kang, Shi, and the rest—had also undergone varying degrees of Tibetanization.

But because these Sogdian families ultimately made their living from the Silk Road and had frequent contact with merchants from their homeland, they were not like the Han and Wenmo people of Liangzhou, who did not know who Zhang Zhao was. On the contrary, they were thunderstruck with awe at the name of this Juer Khan who could extort the Samanid Persians.

And they were merchants. A merchant's needs were obvious, and they were far easier to deal with than other people.

Their greatest goal was the pursuit of profit. Everything could be measured in money—simple and crude.

In their eyes, Zhang Liecheng was nothing more than a distant kinsman who had latched onto the Juer Khan's thigh.

They had heard of the Juer Khan's fearsome reputation. If the Juer Khan came to rule Liangzhou, they would have little objection.

But to make them actively serve as inside agents and welcome the Juer Khan into the city—that would depend on whether there was any benefit in it.

And so, after Zhang Liecheng produced a large bag of white crystalline granules, the secret chamber of the Sogdian merchant guild suddenly fell silent.

Ever since Zhang Zhao had opened up India and set the Silk Road running in a small loop, some merchants had already brought back Indian sugar frost from India.

But compared to the sugar frost of the Central Plains, it did not seem to be much different.

They were all blackish brown, rough-looking, and only passably sweet, and they did not travel well.

Their price was somewhat lower, but compared with the various spices, Indian sugar-frost was not especially sought after.

But the sugar-frost Zhang Liecheng produced seemed quite different. Cao Wantongxi lightly pinched up a small amount and tasted it carefully, and the moment it entered his mouth his eyes lit up.

He had just now pinched a small amount according to the sweetness of ordinary sugar-frost, because sugar-frost at this time was low in sweetness, and too little of it had hardly any sweet taste at all.

Yet the pinch he had taken truly deserved to be called sweetness that entered the heart and spleen; its sweetness was more than double that of ordinary sugar-frost.

Moreover, the sugar-frost of the present day was brown in color and its powder coarse and broken, hardly deserving the name sugar-frost at all. People of the time mostly called it brown sugar, and its appearance was at least five times worse than the sugar-frost in Zhang Liecheng's hand.

"Could this have been refined by Military Commander Zhang using cow's milk? It is good, but the price is too high. Even noble and wealthy households would have to use it sparingly. Even if it is sweet as honey, there is little profit to be made." An old traveling merchant surnamed An voiced the worry in his heart.

At this time there was also a method for purifying white sugar, though it was rather strange, using cow's milk to purify it.

It must be said that the protein rich in cow's milk could indeed produce this effect, but the price was simply unbearable.

One must understand that at this time there were no dairy cows to speak of, and obtaining and preserving cow's milk was extremely difficult. White sugar purified with this stuff cost an astronomical price, and could not compare at all with the yellow-clay decolorization and carbon dioxide decolorization methods Zhang Zhao used.

Zhang Liecheng smiled faintly. "If this thing were made with cow's milk, why would I bring it before you elders and make a fool of myself?

Look, all of you, at this color and this sweetness. This is not something cow's-milk decolorization could produce.

For decolorizing and purifying sugar-frost, my foster father has his own excellent method. Two jin of brown sugar can be refined into one and a half jin of sugar-frost, and it saves time, saves labor, and is easy to operate.

As for what secret method is used, of course it will not be made public. But the Military Commander can issue a charter of exclusive operation. Whoever obtains it — you gentlemen naturally understand what must be done.

If you gentlemen are unwilling to do it, no matter. There are plenty of people willing to take it for ready silver."

This was a one-of-a-kind business backed by technique! What goods make the most money? Monopolized goods make the most money.

And the raw material was easy to find. Two jin of Indian sugar could produce one and a half jin of this white sugar-frost. Though it was not a fortune from a single investment, a steady, long-term, one-of-a-kind business was also a hen that laid golden eggs.

"The method is good, but merely a charter of exclusive operation..."

Cao Wantongxi pondered for a moment. The old fellow had quite an appetite. Actually, it was not quite an appetite; merchants always ask outrageous prices — that was normal practice.

"Oh, right! There is one thing I forgot to mention. You gentlemen have not forgotten my foster father's other identity, have you?

The Military Commander intends to establish a Commercial Route Patrol Commissioner in Dunhuang. Those who oppose the Military Commander had best not go west.

Of course, some may bypass Dunhuang, but I am sorry to say that Yuni City and Shule City have them too. Whether you go south or north, you cannot get around them."

Seeing that some were hesitating, Zhang Liecheng spoke as though he had just suddenly remembered, kindly reminding the Liangzhou Sogdians in the secret chamber: those who refuse a toast will not even get the forfeit wine.

As he spoke, Zhang Liecheng produced a letter and placed it in Cao Wantongxi's hands. "This letter is written personally by Escort Officer Cao's kinsman, the Great King Linggong.

The Escort Officer should know that the Cao Wan family's ability to gain a firm foothold in Liangzhou could not have happened without the Great King Linggong's support, is that not so?"

Why didn't you say so earlier! If you could grip my lifeline, you should have gripped it earlier! It would have saved me from trying to bargain with you.

The feigned thoughtful look on Cao Wantongxi's face vanished at once. His face shining, he laughed heartily and took Zhang Liecheng's hand.

"Truly a talent of our Cao family! I have heard the Great Khan has a favored consort who is also of our Cao family. The Khagan is the Khagan of us Sogdians!

I beg Commander Zhang to report back to His Majesty the Khagan: the four Sogdian clans of Liangzhou respectfully obey the Khagan's will. Whatever he bids us do, we shall do!"

All chapters have been cached for you. Download the APP to view them.