Chapter 285: Taken! Taken!

The Later Tang, Eastern Capital Luoyang, Yingtian Gate at the south wall of the Purple Myrtle Palace — this was where the Later Tang held its major state ceremonies and diplomatic occasions.

Although the Guiyi Army is regarded in later times as a natural part of China, at this moment, in the eyes of the Central Plains court, the Guiyi Army was entirely different from Ma Chu, Southern Han, Min, Yue, and the rest — they were treated more as a foreign vassal.

At this moment, the Guiyi Army's chief envoy Long Bian and deputy envoy Jia Yanchang were outside Yingtian Gate giving thanks for imperial grace, because the Emperor Li Congke had already approved the Guiyi Army's request.

The court posthumously honored Cao Yijin as Grand Preceptor and Prince of Qiao Commandery, appointed Cao Yuanzhong as Acting Minister over the Masses, Military Governor, Surveillance Commissioner, and Pacification Commissioner over the Two Prefectures of Gua and Sha, concurrently Prefect of Shazhou, and appointed Zhang Zhao as Acting Minister of Works and Guiyi Army Commissioner.

Although the Guiyi Army envoys had inexplicably given up the title of Guiyi Army Military Governor, requesting instead a Military Governor and Surveillance Commissioner of the Two Prefectures of Gua and Sha, and then separately requested the title of Guiyi Army Commissioner.

But under Jia Yanchang's silver-bullet offensive — especially the moment those five second- and third-generation Ferghana horses, famed as heavenly steeds, made their appearance — Li Congke immediately approved.

Xue Wenyu, the Academician of the Bureau of Military Affairs, and others had also accepted large bribes, so naturally no one objected.

As tribute envoys presenting the heavenly steeds, Jia Yanchang and Long Bian even received rewards of brocade robes and silver belts from the Emperor Li Congke.

Now that the appointments had been granted and the requested offices had come through, Jia Yanchang and Long Bian quickly returned to the guesthouse.

The moment they entered, a minor guesthouse clerk, well fed by their silver, ran over to report that envoys from the Ganzhou Uyghurs had already checked in, bringing fine horses, gold, and silver, and were said to be lodging a complaint that the Guiyi Army had attacked them without cause and seized Suzhou, among other matters.

"The Xianyun dog-slaves, come whining again!" Jia Yanchang's face instantly turned extremely grim.

This was also a common trick of the Ganzhou Uyghurs. At this time they called the Later Tang court "maternal uncle" and styled themselves "nephew," which made them far more reliable in the eyes of the Central Plains court than the Guiyi Army, with its black mark of having once proclaimed its own Son of Heaven.

Every year when the Ganzhou Uyghurs clashed with the Guiyi Army, they would call upon the Central Plains court for support.

"But they've come too late. I fear the court and the Sage no longer have the leisure to look west. Still, to avoid trouble from delay, Escort Officer Jia, please set out at once!"

Long Bian immediately said to Jia Yanchang, and Jia Yanchang nodded.

"I know the Master bears a heavy charge from the Army Commissioner, so I will not decline. I leave you twenty followers — take every care."

Watching Jia Yanchang hurry off to pack his clothes and belongings, Long Bian could not help but give a bitter smile.

Everyone knew he bore a secret and weighty mission from Zhang Zhao, but no one could have imagined that his mission was to help Zhang Zhao spirit the young daughter of the Prince of Dongdan away to Liangzhou.

What sort of business was this! He, Long Bian, a perfectly good Chief Buddhist Controller of Hexi and a renowned eminent monk, now had to go deceive another man's daughter — and he had no choice but to do it.

"Master, the Military Governor has sent for you again!" The guesthouse clerk looked at this foreign monk with envy, jealousy, and resentment.

What skill! He had charmed the Military Governor of the Huaijun Army into inviting him day after day, listening to him expound the Dharma every day and showering him with countless gold, silver, and jewels.

The Prince of Dongdan, Yelu Bei, was now called Li Zanhua. This was the name and surname bestowed on him by Emperor Zhuangzong, Li Cunxu, after he crossed the sea from Liaodong to the Later Tang, along with the office of Military Governor of the Huaijun Army.

So the guesthouse clerk did not call him Prince of Dongdan, but rather addressed him as Military Governor.

Yelu Bei's residence was in Fucheng Ward, near the imperial city. The Later Tang Eastern Capital Luoyang had merely been given light repairs on the foundation of Tang-dynasty Luoyang, so this square, grid-like ward-and-market structure had naturally been inherited as well.

However, from the late Tang until now, Luoyang had suffered calamity after calamity, and the city had fallen into ruin. Many ward and market buildings had collapsed and grown over with brambles like wild ground.

The people, no longer under control, even dug earth right on the roads to build houses, leaving the whole of Luoyang pitted and pockmarked. In many wards the holes in the ground were so large that even oxcarts could not pass.

The palace city was no better off. The vermilion lacquer was peeling, and occasional collapses had left holes of varying sizes in many places along the palace walls, where foxes, hares, and wild dogs came and went.

By this time, the entire city of Luoyang had in fact merged with the suburbs into one expanse. The phrase "vast divine capital, opening onto green fields" referred to exactly this phenomenon.

The only places that still had something of the air of a national capital were the Purple Myrtle Palace, repaired in Emperor Zhuangzong's time, and a few wards near it such as Fucheng Ward.

But the guesthouse for the Four Barbarians, where envoys like Long Bian stayed, was by the Yi River. By the time he arrived clanking and clattering at Yelu Bei's residence, this eldest son of Abaoji had already received news both glad and worrisome.

On the third day of the ninth month, more than ten days earlier, Zhang Jingda, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Later Tang's Northern Army, had led an army of one hundred ten thousand to besiege Taiyuan.

The Tang army dug long trenches for the siege. Just as Shi Jingtang seemed about to collapse, the man shut his eyes and immediately cast aside all face, offering to cede the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun and call himself "son-emperor" in exchange for summoning the Khitan Emperor Yelu Deguang's fifty thousand troops.

After that, the Tang army was forced to lift the siege of Taiyuan. Zhang Jingda dispatched his crack generals Gao Xingzhou and Fu Yanqing to take the initiative and attack.

Yelu Deguang feigned defeat, luring the cavalry led by Gao Xingzhou and Fu Yanqing south of the Fen River, then suddenly sprang an ambush and cut the Later Tang army in two.

The two sides fought fiercely for six hours. The Later Tang infantry, stripped of cavalry cover, suffered a crushing defeat, with as many as ten thousand killed. Their armor, weapons, provisions, and baggage were almost entirely lost — in effect, the whole army was annihilated.

The cavalry force positioned to the south, however, did not suffer much loss, but they were too few in number to change the course of the battle.

Afterward, Gao Xingzhou and Fu Yanqing led their cavalry out to fight many times, but with little effect.

Zhang Jingda gathered the defeated troops and was besieged at the Jin'an army stockade, waiting only for an internal mutiny before he could exit the stage of history.

The one hundred ten thousand men in this battle were essentially the bulk of the Later Tang's finest troops. Once Zhang Jingda was defeated, Shi Jingtang and the Khitan cavalry could drive straight south, and the Luoyang court was already in imminent peril.

Yelu Bei had originally intended to summon Long Bian to discuss the Dharma and the art of painting. This man was a rare man of culture among the Khitan, quite accomplished in poetry, song, and painting.

The Dunhuang school of painting in which Long Bian was trained blended East and West and excelled at religious painting, which was quite fresh and novel to Yelu Bei, so the two of them got along very well.

"With the defeat at Tuanbo Valley, I fear the court shows signs of collapse. It is only because I am so congenial with the Master that I speak without reserve.

Although Yaogu (Yelu Deguang), the ruler of the Liao, is my second younger brother, the Great Tang is my true home and country. Having suddenly received such terrible news, I truly have no heart to discuss the Dharma with the Master today. I beg the Master's forgiveness."

Yelu Bei wore an expression of deep grief, as though he were frantic with worry, but in truth he was putting on a show for others.

Long before Shi Jingtang had called in Yelu Deguang to aid him in battle, Yelu Bei had already sensed the Later Tang's weakness. He had secretly written to Yelu Deguang, saying that the Central Plains was weak and could be taken by a southern campaign.

Long Bian's heart pounded wildly. It was certainly not because he was worried for the Later Tang court over the disaster at Tuanbo Valley — in fact, he was remembering Zhang Zhao's words.

Back then, Zhang Zhao had told him that the Bodhisattva Weituo had roamed with him in a dream and spoken of how Yelu Bei of the Eastern Capital had a daughter of considerable Buddha-nature, fit to be a Jade Maiden Treasure, and that Long Bian was to rescue her when calamity befell the Eastern Capital.

At the time, Long Bian had thought this was either Zhang Zhao having heard somewhere that one of Yelu Bei's daughters was a great beauty and then letting his lust run wild, or else a pretext to strengthen his own standing as a Dharma King.

But now it seemed to have been so precise. How had the Dharma King known that the court was in trouble and the Eastern Capital would suffer calamity? Could there truly have been a dream sent by the Bodhisattva Weituo?

"The Military Governor's heart is with the court, and this humble monk can only feel admiration. However, when I interpreted the Military Governor's lot the other day, it clearly indicated a calamity this year. The Military Governor must be careful and cautious!"

His mind deeply shaken, Long Bian was beginning to believe Zhang Zhao's words, so today was the first time he took the initiative to steer the conversation in this direction.

Yelu Bei's expression immediately soured. In his view, this foreign monk from the Guiyi Army was excellent in every way — his grasp of the Dharma was profound and his painting had merit — but he kept insisting that Yelu Bei would face a calamity this year, and that giving up one daughter might resolve it.

In the past, he had treated this as a joke. These followers of the Buddha always liked to preach by alarmist talk, and Yelu Bei had grown somewhat accustomed to it, so he had not taken it to heart. But once the news of the Battle of Tuanbo Valley arrived, he could no longer remain calm.

Because starting yesterday, he had noticed many unfamiliar faces around his residence, some of them from the imperial guard's cavalry and infantry personal army. This was clearly a sign that the Sage was beginning to guard against him.

Yelu Bei gave a long sigh. "It is not that I begrudge giving up a daughter to serve the Buddha. It is only that I have but two daughters.

The elder has long been betrothed, though not yet married; the younger is still young, barely of maiden years, and is truly the flesh of my heart!"

"The Military Governor is attached to appearances. If the young lady did not have a Buddhist affinity, this humble monk would not have come all the way from Hexi for this very purpose. To give oneself to the Buddha does not mean the young lady must spend her whole life before the dim lamp of a blue-robed nun.

Graceful and slender at thirteen, in the second month of her maiden years — even if this humble monk wished to make a young lady of such an age live out her life alone, the Buddha would not permit it.

This is truly our Buddha, the Wheel-Turning Sage King, unable to bear seeing the young lady in distress; it is also this humble monk, having received the Military Governor's gracious favor, wishing to relieve the Military Governor's misfortune."

Yelu Bei thought it over seriously for a moment. Although he was somewhat inclined to believe Long Bian's words, he still faintly sensed something off — everything was steeped in an overly coincidental flavor.

"May I ask what sort of person this Wheel-Turning Sage King is? How could he know from a thousand li away that my daughter has a Buddhist affinity?"

"The Wheel-Turning Sage King arose in India and was enlightened by the Buddha on Vulture Peak, becoming a Dharma King in the human realm. He naturally possesses great supernatural powers.

Moreover, the Dharma King is not an Indian foreign monk — he is in fact a man of the Central Plains, and his ancestor was none other than Military Governor Zhang of the Guiyi Army.

His Treasure-Keeper and his Commander of the Treasure Army have already arrived, and they lack only the Jade Maiden Treasure to assist them. Once the Seven Treasures are complete, the compassionate light of my Buddha will surely shine across Hexi.

The Jade Maiden Treasure may arrive as a maiden and depart at her coming-of-age. If the Military Governor cannot set his mind at ease, he may also dispatch his bravest warriors to escort her to Liangzhou.

The Great Guanyin Temple in Liangzhou has already prepared a fine meditation chamber for the Jade Maiden Treasure. If anything at all fails to suit her wishes, whether she stays or leaves is entirely for the Military Governor to decide."

They had put it that way, and all they wanted was for his daughter to go and cultivate for two or three years — she could return at fifteen, when she came of age.

The Khitan already believed in Buddhism, and if word spread that he, Yelu Bei, had a daughter of considerable Buddhist affinity, that would be a matter of great honor.

Besides, Yelu Bei had been quietly observing Long Bian and the Guiyi Army envoy delegation all this time, and he truly had not seen any motive for them to harm him. He pondered for a moment.

"Then I beg the Master to allow me a few days to consider. As a parent, finding it hard to part with one's child on a long journey is only human nature!"

"In that case, this humble monk shall await your decision." Long Bian intoned a Buddhist invocation. He knew Yelu Bei was already moved — he only needed to wait for the imperial troops at the Jin'an Army stockade to be completely annihilated, and the task Zhang Zhao had assigned him would be complete.

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