Chapter 291: The Young and Old Gather; All Worthy Men Arrive

In the year 936, on the seventh day of the eleventh month of the third year of Qingtai of the Later Tang, the four gates of Liangzhou were thrown wide open, and the newly rebuilt city of Liangzhou was decked in red and festooned with colors, looking completely renewed.

Not only traveling merchants passing through from all directions, but even the local people of Liangzhou could not help clicking their tongues in admiration at the sight of the city now.

Several elders of the Li clan of Guzang in Liangzhou could not hold back their tears on the spot at the Zhaowu Gate, the southern gate.

After all these years, it was probably only when Zhang Yichao recovered Liangzhou back then that this capital of the Five Liang had ever known such a magnificent moment.

As the saying goes, new people bring a new spirit — at last they could feel it!

More than sixty years ago, when Grand Guardian Zhang entered the court and the Guiyi Army withdrew from Liangzhou, this city had declined at a speed visible to the naked eye — not only its defenses, but also the morale and spirit of the people within its walls.

Yet after the great-grandson of Grand Guardian Zhang entered Liangzhou once more, this city, like a sleeping lion, slowly began to awaken.

And while the gates of Liangzhou stood wide open, the alert level at the five satellite fortresses around Liangzhou and the two county towns of Guzang and Shenniao had been raised to the highest.

The moment any alarm came, the Guiyi Army soldiers stationed everywhere would respond at the greatest possible speed.

The troops responsible for defending against the Ganzhou Uyghurs to the west in particular had raised their vigilance to the utmost.

It was precisely because they were all on such high alert that Liangzhou could open its four gates wide and display its safety and festivity.

Today was the twenty-fourth birthday of Zhang Zhao, and envoys bearing birthday congratulations had long since arrived from all over Liangzhou and from Shazhou, Dunhuang, and other places.

At the Hexi Military Governor's headquarters in Liangzhou, the descendants of the sons of Tang of Anxi who had just recently arrived in Liangzhou — mainly the descendants of the three clans of new Kucha, along with men and women of the Basmyl people, Zhang Zhao's personal tribe — had directly taken over every aspect of food, drink, and daily life in the Military Governor's residence.

Beginning from the start of the si hour (a little past nine in the morning), large numbers of tribal headmen from the various groups began arriving at the Hexi Military Governor's headquarters.

The several stewards and name-callers in charge of receiving guests at the gate shouted until their throats were raw; everyone of any name or standing in the vicinity of Liangzhou had come.

As for the foolish chickens Zhang Zhao had hoped would be tactless enough to dare refuse him face by not coming to offer birthday congratulations, giving him a chance to vent his fury — there was not a single one.

"The great chief Chen of the Yangfei Valley tribe, the great chief Zhebu of the Hongyuan Valley tribe, the Zhao clan garrison commander of the Xiying River, and the great chiefs of the six tribes of the Zamu River, the East Da River, and the Huangyang River have arrived!"

Hearing the name-caller at the gate announce the names in a loud voice, the Han officials of Liangzhou city who had arrived earlier all rose and looked toward the gate, their expressions rather complicated.

The Han of Liangzhou and the Wenmo had been locked in bitter conflict for over a decade; no one had expected that today there would come a scene in which they all assembled together at the Hexi Military Governor's headquarters.

"The great chiefs of the six tribes present fifty long-haired oxen, five hundred long-haired sheep, one hundred ox hides, twenty jin of ox sinew, ten jin of gold, and one hundred jin of silver!"

Inside, Cui Huxin curled his lip. Long-haired oxen were what later ages would call yaks, and long-haired sheep were the Tibetan-style long-haired sheep of the snow plateau of later times.

These gifts could only be called fairly generous, but compared with the wealthy and powerful Han of Liangzhou, they still fell somewhat short.

But very soon, he heard the shout of the name-caller outside the gate, his voice so distorted by excessive excitement that it changed pitch.

"The great chiefs of the six tribes specially present one hundred white horses and two white-haired divine oxen!"

White horses were not especially rare, but white divine oxen were rare indeed — and when the two appeared together, the meaning they carried was even more extraordinary.

In the eyes of people of this time, extremely rare white animals were all wrapped in an aura of auspicious omen, and white yaks were no exception.

These pure-white boats of the high plateau were actually not uncommon in later times; the Tianzhu white yak is a specialty of Tianzhu County in Wuwei.

But in this era, yak breeding techniques were still very backward, and even though the territory of later Tianzhu County lay within the six Wenmo tribes, white yaks were still rarely seen at this time, and were often regarded as incarnations of the mountain god.

Historically, when the Tibetans of this region offered tribute to the dynasties of the Central Plains, white yak tails were always placed at the very front, the tribute item with the greatest prestige.

There was even an incident in the Xianping reign of Emperor Zhenzong of Song, when the tribute of Pan Luozhi of the Liugu tribe to the Song court contained no white yak tail, and his envoy was treated as an impostor and arrested by the Song border generals.

From this it can be seen that the white yak — even just its tail — held an extremely important symbolic significance among the six Wenmo tribes.

The appearance of white yaks together with white horses signified the submission of the six Wenmo tribes — or at least a gesture of willingness to begin treating Zhang Zhao as their leader.

When the name-caller had finished announcing them, the dozen or so chiefs and headmen of the six valley tribes, great and small, entered and took their seats.

Older men like Chen Zhihai and Garrison Commander Zhao could still keep their composure, but the younger generation — Cui Huxin and Zhebu Jiashi — exchanged a glance and snorted coldly in unison.

"The great chiefs of the four great merchant houses of Liangzhou — Cao, Kang, Shi, and He — have arrived. The great chiefs of the four houses present three thousand jin of refined iron and one hundred fifty Bactrian camels. Respectful wishes for the Acting Military Governor's health and peace."

Only after hearing of the arrival of the Sogdian merchants of Liangzhou did the two groups, who had been glaring and bristling at each other, slowly disperse.

They knew that these Sogdians privately addressed Zhang Zhao as Great Khan; it was said they had even become specially licensed great merchants of Commander Zhang, and that Cao Wantongxi had changed the strongly Tibetan-flavored surname Caowan back to Cao.

One must know that in the past, the Caowan family and the Sogdian merchant guild had been regarded as groups close to the six Wenmo tribes.

Now they had not only changed their surname, but also addressed Zhang Zhao as Great Khan, which showed that they were once again distancing themselves from the Wenmo groups.

"The Commander invites the chiefs of the Cao, Kang, Shi, and He houses to the seats of honor!" The steward in charge of the banquet directly led the chiefs of the four Sogdian clans to the seats of honor above those of the six Wenmo tribes and the Han of Liangzhou.

This was the treatment they deserved; those one hundred fifty Bactrian camels were precisely the strategic material Zhang Zhao needed most.

Liu Di had already completed the initial design for the camel whirlwind catapult, and was now waiting for the camels to arrive before training could begin.

The three groups had just sat down when the central gate of the Military Governor's residence was suddenly thrown open, and everyone rose again and looked toward the gate. Anyone who could make Zhang Zhao open the central gate to receive them was surely an honored guest.

The first to appear were two envoys, each bearing a gift in both hands. Zhang Zhao, who had not shown himself all along, hurried out with flying steps and personally received the two gifts.

Kang Jinshan, who was well informed, smiled smugly and said, pointing at the two envoys: "Everyone, these are gifts sent by the Commander's legal mother, Her Highness Princess Fengtian of the Great Jin Kingdom, and by the Commander's birth mother, of the Song clan of Dunhuang's Wenhua."

Everyone suddenly understood. No wonder Commander Zhang had gone out personally to receive them — it was his mothers who had sent people with birthday gifts.

And after these two envoys, more than ten people outside the gate, dressed in brocade robes and official lanshan, suddenly knelt and called out "Great King."

These people were clearly not of one single race; they had all kinds of skin colors, and even their faiths appeared to differ.

There were turbaned believers of the Heavenly Square faith, believers of the Great Qin faith with crosses hanging at their chests, and even Zoroastrians, who had almost vanished from the Central Plains.

"Great King! Your servant Zhao Junde, Gentleman Attendant of the Yellow Gate of the Great Jin Kingdom, and the others, received the command of the Great Sage Son of Heaven in the seventh month to set out westward. The Great Sage Son of Heaven ordered us to escort ten thousand jin of cotton wadding, with respectful wishes for the Great King's sacred health!"

"You have all worked hard. My uncle knows me! These ten thousand jin of cotton wadding just happen to relieve my urgent need!

Is the Son of Heaven in good health? Are the states of Anxi and Transoxiana behaving themselves? Guo Guangde, you have come too — are the people of Suyab and Talas content and happy?"

Gentleman Attendant of the Yellow Gate Zhao Junde did not rise, but remained prostrate on the ground and declared in a ringing voice: "The Great Sage Son of Heaven is in good health. When your servant left the royal city, the Son of Heaven had just gained a princess and a prince, and was holding a great banquet to share the joy with the people. It is only that he misses the Great King, and therefore sent us to inquire after your well-being.

In the twenty-fourth year, the Son of Heaven dispatched troops and smashed the Karluks south of the White Mountain; more than ten thousand corpses lay on the field, and Satuq alone barely escaped with his life.

In Transoxiana, several kings of the Samanid Persians contend with one another; the Emir Hamid of Bukhara has sent envoys to pay tribute for three consecutive years, and is behaving himself thoroughly."

The "twenty-fourth year" Zhao Junde spoke of referred to Khotan's own reign title, the twenty-fourth year of Tongqing, which was last year.

The White Mountain lay northeast of Kucha, and was the key route from the land of the Seven Rivers southward to Shule and other places.

After this defeat, Satuq would probably be unable to move south again for five or eight years.

Hamid of the Samanid Persians was, as always, ambitious in talk but clumsy in deed; with such a great advantage, he had actually managed to turn it into a struggle among contending kings.

"The Great Khan is in excellent health. Since the Great Khan returned east, the trade routes have been open, and the Acting Military Governor has governed Suyab with considerable success — all the peoples live in peace and contentment.

Last year, Li Gongguo, the Garrison Commander of Talas, took advantage of the internal strife in the Samanid Persian realm and led his troops to recover White Water Hu City and other places.

East of the Jaxartes, the Persians hold only Shi Guo City (Tashkent). Every year we go and lay siege to it for a while, and only leave after extorting a large sum of money and grain."

Zhang Zhao couldn't help laughing. The Samanids really had collapsed fast! They had even lost fortresses like White Water Hu City, and a home-guarding dog like Li Gongguo could lead troops to besiege Shi Guo City and extort them.

"You lords have traveled far and must be weary. You should linger in Liangzhou for some days. First, come to the banquet!"

Hearing that the several forces he had left in the Western Regions were all developing well, Zhang Zhao was overjoyed. As long as they could gain a firm footing in the Western Regions, managing things after the Central Plains were unified would be that much simpler.

Once this round of questions and answers was finished, the six Wenmo tribes who had arrived first, the Han people of Liangzhou, and the four Sogdian clans were the ones truly shocked.

This was the pattern of a sovereign and minister in discourse. Words like "Great King" and "the sacred person" were not terms to be used casually.

Originally they had only known that Zhang Zhao had extended his territory a thousand li in the Western Regions, but they had no concrete sense of it. Only now did they fully feel how extraordinary this was.

Of course, what they felt even more was bewilderment. They did not understand: Zhang Zhao already held such status in Anxi and Transoxiana — why had he come back?

To be a great king in Anxi or Transoxiana was surely better than coming to Liangzhou to be a great king!

The central gate had not yet closed, and Zhang Zhao still stood by the entrance without leaving. The three factions of Liangzhou simply did not go in either, all crowding at the gate to see who else would enter through the central gate.

Before long, waves of Buddhist chants sounded, and outside the gate appeared countless eminent monks in robes of every color. Those with broad knowledge had already begun identifying them one by one for the crowd.

Not to mention Liangzhou's Dayun Temple, Great Buddha Temple, and Guanshiyin Temple — Suzhou's Iron Buddha Temple, Shazhou's Lingyuan Temple and Guanyin Temple, and the Xianyan Temple famed throughout Hexi had all sent people. That temple would still exist in later ages: it was the famous Dunhuang Leiyin Temple.

After the temples of Gua, Sha, and Suzhou had arrived, the eminent monks of the Western Regions temples who had come with Zhao Junde and the others — Shule's Dayun Temple in Anxi, Khotan's Samoji Temple, and the rest — also arrived one after another.

"Lanzhou's Weiyan Temple has sent people. Their information is truly quick — it seems they know the Dharma King is here!"

Strictly speaking, Lanzhou belonged only to Liangzhou's outer sphere of influence. Even the Guiyi Army of Zhang Yichao's time had never truly controlled Lanzhou.

And now Lanzhou's Weiyan Temple had actually sent people — this was now the grandest temple in Lanzhou.

Its predecessor was the palace of Xue Ju, the Commandant of Jincheng at the end of the Sui, who styled himself the Hegemon-King of Western Qin. Only after the Tang court destroyed Xue Ju was it converted into Weiyan Temple. Its standing in Lanzhou could hardly be called low.

"By the Buddha's compassion, we humble monks have not arrived too late after all. Where is the Dharma King's procession? Envoys from Lhasa's Ramoche Temple, the Princess Wencheng Temple of Supi, and the Guge king Kyide Nyimagon have come to pay their respects."

The three who arrived as the finale at once made the faces of the Liangzhou crowd inside the hall turn rather grim.

Lhasa was Luoxie, and Supi was the Yushu region — both were the heartland of the Tibetans. When the Tibetan Empire had been powerful, they would have had to kneel and kowtow at the sight of such people.

As for the envoy of the Guge king Kyide Nyimagon, that was even more extraordinary.

Although Kyide Nyimagon had already been driven to Guge — the later Ngari region — his bloodline was still extremely noble on the Qingtang Plateau. His fourth-generation ancestor was Darma, the last Tsenpo of the Tibetan Empire.

With the arrival of these three, Zhang Zhao's birthday banquet formally began. Although monks and laity were seated separately, the minds of the Liangzhou crowd on the left were still entirely drawn to the right.

The appearance of the Ramoche Temple and the Guge king's envoy in particular left them deeply shaken.

That Zhang Zhao could bring these people here was not entirely due to the appeal of his Dharma King title. In truth, each side had its own needs.

Because seventy or eighty years ago, after the Tibetan Tsenpo Langdarma took the throne, he adopted a brutal policy of destroying Buddhism on the Qingtang Plateau. Countless monks were forced to return to lay life, and the struggle spread throughout the entire Tibetan Empire.

Although Langdarma was later killed by a monk's assassination, Buddhism on the plateau never revived.

Even a Buddhist holy site like Ramoche Temple was now in a state of closure.

Moreover, because Ramoche Temple and the Princess Wencheng Temple had deep ties with the Han lands, they were in an even more disadvantageous position on the plateau.

They needed a powerful outside backer, and Zhang Zhao, bearing the title of Dharma King, seemed so very suitable.

Likewise, Zhang Zhao had places where he needed to make use of them — apart from using them now to elevate his prestige.

Historically, the method by which the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties brought the Qingtang Plateau into the state was to support Buddhism and thereby strengthen ties. Zhang Zhao was also planting a seed here, and besides, he had the title of Dharma King.

In all this, the one making the connections was the Guge king Kyide Nyimagon. By now the Tibetan Empire had long since crumbled to dust.

But the thought of returning to Lhasa and becoming Tsenpo still ceaselessly stirred Kyide Nyimagon, so he and Zhang Zhao hit it off immediately.

What he did not understand was that Zhang Zhao would absolutely never allow another Tsenpo to appear on the plateau — and in any case, with his ability and strength, he could not become Tsenpo.

After the banquet, the eminent monks of the great temples would also hold a grand Dharma assembly in Liangzhou, using the occasion of Dharma King Zhang's birthday to bring great glory to the Buddhist communities of Hexi and Longyou.

In the crowd, a figure dressed as a Sogdian slipped away. He knew the Ganzhou Uyghurs had no hope left.

Because in all of Hexi, only their Yaglakar clan still adhered to Manichaeism. Zhang Zhao was going to turn them into the heretics and enemies of Buddhism in Hexi and Longyou. When the time came, if he did not strike, all would be quiet — but once he did strike, it would be a thunderbolt blow to root out the trouble forever.

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