Chapter 294: This Is No Blessing for the Court

It was just at the time when Zhang Zhao was reclaiming wasteland in Liangzhou, building irrigation works, expanding roads, and dispersing the original six Wenmo tribes to different places, appointing each tribal chief as county magistrate or county deputy.

The Later Tang's eastern capital, Luoyang, was sinking into extreme panic.

On the ninth day of the eleventh month, the Later Tang's Northern Front Commander Zhang Jingda was killed by the rebel general Yang Guangyuan; Commander An Shenxin and Zhenwu Army Commander An Zhongrong also surrendered one after another to Shi Jingtang.

Generals such as Gao Xingzhou and Fu Yanqing had no choice but to withdraw back to Hebei.

Just three days after Yang Guangyuan surrendered to Shi Jingtang, Shi Jingtang proclaimed himself emperor at Liuyuan in Taiyuan.

But although he had shattered the Later Tang court's great army, Shi Jingtang's position at this moment was by no means secure.

Because the Khitan ruler Yelu Deguang considered Shi Jingtang a hero.

Huh! Who knows where he got that impression? Perhaps he wanted to be a hero's father?

In any case, Yelu Deguang believed Shi Jingtang would not be easy to control, and so he began to be reluctant to make him emperor.

At the same time, something even more troublesome for Shi Jingtang happened: Zhao Dejun, the Later Tang Military Governor of Lulong and Prince of Beiping, heard that Shi Jingtang had lured the Khitan in to invade and set himself up as emperor, and immediately felt that he could do the same.

So he sent envoys with enormous quantities of gold and silk to bribe the Khitan high and low, hoping to make Yelu Deguang abandon Shi Jingtang and install him as emperor instead.

Truly, even becoming a godson requires fierce competition! When Yelu Deguang learned of this, flattered by the ministers around him, he too became rather inclined toward Zhao Dejun.

Because this man, whether in ability, appearance, or reputation, was inferior to Shi Jingtang; if he were made emperor, he would surely be even more submissive, and thereafter would not the Central Plains be a place the Khitan could enter and leave as they pleased?

When Shi Jingtang heard the news, he was greatly alarmed. Since he had already gone so far as to call himself a son-emperor and sell away the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun, face and the like naturally no longer mattered.

So he urgently ordered his Secretary, his trusted confidant Sang Weihan, to go see the Khitan ruler Yelu Deguang.

Sang Weihan was even more shameless than his master Shi Jingtang. From morning till night he knelt before Yelu Deguang's tent, pleading bitterly, weeping and sobbing, utterly without dignity, ceaselessly pouring out to Yelu Deguang the tale of Shi Jingtang's loyalty.

And when Yelu Deguang saw how utterly spineless Sang Weihan was, he reasoned by extension that Shi Jingtang was probably even worse.

At the same time, because Zhao Dejun was still in Lulong, if the matter failed he could continue being his Lulong Military Governor, whereas Shi Jingtang had no way back and could only follow the Khitan all the way into the dark.

So in the end, Yelu Deguang finally agreed to make Shi Jingtang emperor.

And the Later Tang court, after losing the 110,000 men of Northern Front Commander Zhang Jingda, had only a little over 10,000 troops left in the entire eastern capital of Luoyang.

To resist the Khitan, they would have to summon troops from Henan Circuit, Guannei Circuit, and the western capital Chang'an to come to the emperor's aid.

And as for the character of the Five Dynasties' military men, everyone from Emperor Li Congke at the top down to the beggars and refugees of Luoyang knew it very well.

At this moment, probably even the imperial guard personal troops defending the palace had little loyalty left to speak of, so how could they dare summon a great army to the emperor's aid?

Once summoned, they would likely die not at Shi Jingtang's hands, then at the hands of mutinous soldiers.

So Emperor Li Congke simply gave up, drinking and feasting in the palace day after day. Seeing the Sage like this, the entire court immediately fell into disunity and disloyalty.

On the twenty-fifth of the eleventh month, at the residence of Yelu Bei in Chengfu Ward east of the Luoyang palace city, this eldest son of Yelu Abaoji was surrounded in his bedchamber by more than ten Later Tang cavalry and infantry personal guards.

Yelu Bei, hair disheveled, cried out to the heavens, filled with regret. Earlier, the eminent Hexi monk Long Bian had asked him to leave and temporarily avoid the calamity of war, and Yelu Bei had refused without a moment's hesitation.

Because he did not feel there was any problem with himself at all; on the contrary, he was secretly delighted.

This time his second brother Yelu Deguang had entered the Central Plains. Although their relationship had not been particularly good, the Central Plains was so vast.

Yelu Deguang could not stay in the Central Plains forever, while he himself had lived there for many years and no longer had any conflict of interest with him; he was even more reliable than Shi Jingtang and the rest.

As long as Yelu Deguang left a few thousand troops, enfeoffed him with a princely title, and gave him a few military governorships, would that not be far better than returning to the poor and bitter land of Dongdan? So why would he leave?

In the end, Emperor Li Congke had long seen through his little scheme. So before preparing to end his own life, he secretly ordered the imperial guard to go to Yelu Bei's residence and "invite" him to burn together at the Xuanwu Tower.

How could Yelu Bei submit? If he wanted to die, why had he crossed the sea from Dongdan to the Later Tang all those years ago?

Now he had no way out. He could only grab the arm of Li Yanshen, the cavalry and infantry personal guard commander who had come to seize him, and wail bitterly.

"Does the Commander wish to kill me? If you can raise your hand in mercy, when Shi of Hedong enters the eastern capital, I will surely plead before him for high office and rich rewards for you — even a military governorship in the provinces is not impossible."

Li Yanshen sneered. He was a kinsman of Emperor Li Congke and had long hated the Khitan to the bone. If Shi Jingtang had not lured the Khitan into the capital, how could Luoyang have fallen into such a state?

Without another word, he thrust his long blade forward and ran Yelu Bei straight through the chest and belly.

Yelu Bei grasped the sharp blade with both hands, his fingers severed. Gazing west, he shrieked miserably: "I regret not heeding the words of the eminent Hexi monk, and so have come to this!"

With those words, this famous man of culture in Khitan history, who had preserved a vast number of ancient texts from the late Tang — including many unique copies not even found in the Central Plains — who excelled at painting and could write poetry in the Khitan script, and who was at the same time utterly ferocious, this eldest son of Yelu Abaoji, his bowels pierced and belly torn open, collapsed to the ground and died.

On the twenty-sixth of the eleventh month, the day after the killing of Yelu Bei, upon hearing that the Khitan had installed Shi Jingtang as emperor and that An Shenxin, An Zhongrong, Yang Guangyuan, and others had all surrendered.

The fifty-two-year-old Emperor Li Congke, unwilling to fall into the hands of Shi Jingtang and the Khitan, took the imperial seal, his mother Empress Dowager Cao, his wife Empress Liu, the crown prince Li Chongmei, and others up the Xuanwu Tower and burned himself to death.

Shi Jingtang had not yet entered Luoyang, and the Later Tang, a state founded thirteen years earlier, was already destroyed.

At this moment, Long Bian, carrying Yelu Bei's young daughter Yelu Abuli, had just left Luoyang less than a hundred li behind.

But fortunately, Long Bian had the protection of his status as an eminent monk of great virtue, and the soldiers and able-bodied men along the road all dared not question him, so he could speed westward back to Liangzhou.

Long Bian left, but Pei Yuan remained in Luoyang. When he had departed Liangzhou, Zhang Zhao had sent twenty warriors to escort him eastward.

Originally, Pei Yuan's first stop was to return to the territory of the Pei clan of Wenxi in Hedong to recruit talent for Zhang Zhao.

But after this great upheaval in the Central Plains, Pei Yuan, his mind and spirit deeply shaken, made a somewhat mad decision.

If the Later Tang court were still stable, it would certainly never allow the Guiyi Army's historian to concurrently hold the post of Military Governor of Hexi — even an Acting Military Governor would be impossible.

But if he could, at the very first moment Shi Jingtang entered the eastern capital, petition for Zhang Zhao to be appointed Military Governor of Hexi, then with Shi Jingtang's foundation not yet secure, a bad reputation hanging over his head, and his seat not yet warm, suddenly receiving a request of allegiance from Hexi and Liangzhou, he would absolutely be overjoyed and agree.

So Pei Yuan simply decided to take the risk of staying in the eastern capital and not leaving, preparing to submit a petition for the appointment as soon as Shi Jingtang entered the city, and swiftly secure the post of Military Governor of Hexi for Zhang Zhao.

Luo Yu'er, watching Pei Yuan's ruthless expression, could not help but be stunned for a moment.

He was the commander of the twenty warriors escorting Pei Yuan eastward, and he had come from Zhang Zhao's personal guard, the Hanshan Unit.

Now he finally understood why Pei Yuan had been able to win Zhang Zhao's trust and high regard in such a short time. This fellow truly had no regard for his own life!

Luoyang was the imperial capital. Once Shi Jingtang's rebel army entered the city, it was hard to say there would be no killing and looting.

They had only a little over twenty men, while the rebels numbered at least in the tens of thousands. If things truly descended into chaos, they could not possibly protect themselves.

And as a former member of the Hanshan Unit, Luo Yu'er also understood very well that if they could secure the post of Military Governor of Hexi for Zhang Zhao, it would absolutely be a great merit, and even more beneficial to Zhang Zhao's future development. So he quickly supported Pei Yuan's plan.

"Since Secretary Pei has made his decision, then we must make preparations. I will go out immediately with ten brothers to stockpile supplies.

Secretary Pei, take the other ten brothers and reinforce the post station's defenses, arrange patrols, and if any ruffians come to cause trouble, kill them all!"

Pei Yuan was not nervous in the least. He nodded at Luo Yu'er.

"Captain Luo, there's no need to worry. We are envoys from the west. I can see that Shi of Hedong, shameless as he is, is still a formidable figure in his own right.

As long as he has even a little ambition and wants to hold this imperial throne securely, he won't do anything to us.

We only need to endure the hardest first ten days. Once Shi of Hedong enters the city, we'll be safe.

It's just a pity that, reportedly, the Sage carried the Imperial Heirloom Seal to Xuanwu Gate, where it was burned along with him. If we could find that object and present it to Shi Jingtang, we might be able to secure for the Military Governor the territory of the Xiongwu Military Governor of Qinzhou, or the Zhangyi Military Governor of Yizhou."

Luo Yu'er couldn't help the corner of her mouth twitching. These twenty men could barely protect themselves, yet Pei Yuan was still thinking about finding the Imperial Heirloom Seal for the Great King. These two truly deserved to be lord and vassal who had found each other.

Just as the great upheaval was taking place in the Eastern Capital Luoyang, and Shi Jingtang was about to ascend the dragon throne, the Guiyi Army's chief envoy Jia Yanchang had only just reached Weizhou.

The imperial envoy traveling with Jia Lianchang was a Revenue Circuit Inspector from the Secretariat-Chancellery.

The Circuit Inspector wore a bitter expression and was not at all pleased. In ordinary times, the task of conferring a military governorship would never have fallen to a minor Circuit Inspector like him.

But when they had set out, the court was already tottering on the brink of collapse. The grandees of the Bureau of Military Affairs and the Secretariat-Chancellery were either busy fleeing the city or busy preparing to ingratiate themselves with a new master.

No one wanted to travel all the way to Hexi and Dunhuang at a time like this — several thousand li!

And so, the weighty task of conferring a title on an outer military province had fallen into the hands of a mere Revenue Circuit Inspector of the Secretariat-Chancellery like him.

They traveled westward, and within a few days crossed the border of Qinzhou. Once out of Qinzhou, they were beyond the rule of the Central Plains court. Lanzhou and Weizhou, which bordered Qinzhou, belonged to the territory of the Hexi Wenmo.

The yabing guards of the Xiongwu Military Governor who had escorted them thus far also turned back to Qinzhou at this point and would escort them no further.

This Revenue Circuit Inspector, a man named Fan Zhi, could only follow the Guiyi Army's chief envoy Jia Yanchang, together with twenty-odd guards and forty or fifty mules and horses, advancing from Qinzhou toward Weizhou and Lanzhou.

Weizhou was still manageable. Although it was no longer Later Tang territory, it was right next to Qinzhou.

Cities like Longxi and Xiangwu, though occupied by the Wenmo Qiang people, still had many Han inhabitants, and they retained some awe for an imperial envoy.

But the moment they reached Lanzhou, trouble arose at every turn. Between Lanzhou and the court lay Weizhou, and toward the seemingly powerful Central Plains court, the people here were far less reverent.

And by the reckoning of actual power at this time, it should have been part of the Liangzhou Wenmo.

But in reality? The Wenmo had never formed a unified people at all; it was merely a concept of identity.

The Liugu tribe of the Liangzhou Wenmo, which held the leading position, simply could not control the Wenmo over here in Lanzhou. Naturally, Zhang Zhao's influence could hardly reach this place either.

Fortunately, however, this was the Five Dynasties period. A scholar who had risen through the civil examinations and even passed the jinshi degree, Fan Zhi was by no means weak and bookish.

To be more precise, the gradual weakening of Han literati was something that only happened after the middle of the Northern Song.

Before that, it was the norm for men of letters to serve as generals abroad and ministers at home. Most scholars could bend a bow and shoot from a distance, and draw a sword to cut men down up close. They at least had these basic skills, and at the very least did not lack courage.

Even poets like Du Fu and Bai Juyi, as we picture them, though far from professional soldiers, were by no means weak and bookish scholars.

But Fan Zhi, who had grown up in the Zhengzhou region of the Central Plains, was seeing for the first time the rough and fierce folkways of Hexi.

They flew the banners of the court and the banners of the Military Governor of Qinzhou, yet they still constantly drew hostile stares, and were even directly set upon by bandits.

Fortunately, Fan Zhi discovered that the twenty-odd horsemen led by this Guiyi Army envoy were extraordinarily brave.

They all rode fine horses and carried strong bows. Even when facing bandits numbering in the dozens, hundreds, or even several hundred Hu cavalry, they still dared to charge out on their own initiative, shooting left and right.

They traveled more than sixty li westward, beating back the surrounding Hu riders in successive engagements. Seeing this, Fan Zhi set his mind at ease. He even had the leisure to praise them to Jia Yanchang beside him.

"I had heard in the Eastern Capital that the Guiyi Army's Grand Guardian Zhang was a hero without equal. Today, seeing the bravery of the young men under Your Excellency's command, I know those words were true!"

Jia Yanchang was quite satisfied with Fan Zhi, this imperial envoy sent by the Central Plains court to confer the title. Though his official rank was not high, his airs were correspondingly modest, and the journey with him had been most pleasant.

So Jia Yanchang thought to give Fan Zhi a hint, lest he arrive in Hexi and fail to grasp the situation. He pointed at the horsemen guarding them on either side and said with a smile:

"The imperial envoy flatters us. But the horsemen guarding us at this moment are not knights of the Guiyi Army."

Fan Zhi was greatly puzzled. "Is Your Excellency not an envoy of the Guiyi Army? How then are these brave horsemen not knights of the Guiyi Army?"

Jia Yanchang pondered for a moment. "Does the imperial envoy know why, on this visit to the court, I sought only the post of Gua-Sha Two Prefectures Observation and Pacification Commissioner over the Tribes for Lord Cao Yuanzhong?"

Fan Zhi shook his head. The matter was indeed strange. In the past, when surrounding vassals requested titles, they always sought the grandest possible. Who ever asked for a lesser title for themselves?

The so-called Gua-Sha Two Prefectures Observation and Pacification Commissioner over the Tribes was several grades below the Guiyi Army Commissioner.

Moreover, it abandoned the righteous banner of the Guiyi Army, so painstakingly won since the time of Zhang Yichao through the submission of the six commanderies of Hexi. It truly baffled the mind.

But he also sensed that this Chief Envoy Jia of the Guiyi Army might be trying to warn him of something.

Fan Zhi dared not be careless. Though he was an imperial envoy, he was no high official. Besides, the Great Tang court was tottering; whether the court would even still exist when he returned, he did not know.

Even if the court still stood, he was a mere Revenue Circuit Inspector. If something went wrong on the thousand-li journey to Hexi — if he were cut down by the Wenmo, for instance — the court could do nothing even if it wanted to. At most, some border general would take the chance to slaughter a few small tribes to save face, and that would be the end of it.

So Fan Zhi hastily cupped his hands and lowered his posture further. "In that case, I must trouble Escort Officer Jia to be so kind as to dispel my confusion."

Jia Yanchang pretended to think hard for a long while, then sighed to Fan Zhi: "Were the imperial envoy not an honest man, and one with whom I have found kinship, I truly should not speak of this to an outsider. But since we have found kinship, I shall venture to speak.

The one who now holds power in the Guiyi Army is not Lord Cao Yuanzhong, but Lord Cao Yuanzhong's son-in-law — the great hero who once submitted Hexi, Zhang Yichao, Grand Guardian Zhang's great-grandson, Zhang Zhao, the young lord Zhang Erlang. He is the very Guiyi Army Commissioner requested this time.

And Commissioner Zhang is not in Shazhou or Dunhuang. He is waiting for us in Liangzhou, not far from here."

Fan Zhi was instantly shocked. If what Jia Yanchang said was true, it meant the Guiyi Army had actually taken control of Liangzhou again. Had they reunified Hexi once more?

This was certainly no blessing for the court!

That was the first thought that sprang into Fan Zhi's mind, and it added considerably to the weight in his heart regarding this westward journey.

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