Chapter 319: Where Is My Son Xinzhang?

Weizhou City, known in later ages as Pingliang in Gansu, had a very troubled history as a county seat, established and abolished several times. By the early Qingtai years when Li Congke ascended the throne, Pingliang County was established once more, and a County Magistrate was appointed.

Yet people of the time still did not call the place Pingliang, for civil officials in the Five Dynasties were arguably the least consequential of all, and the Pingliang County Magistrate post even had records of vacancies lasting more than ten years.

In the beginning, the place was occupied by troops sent from Jingzhou under the Zhangyi Army Military Governor.

Now it belonged to Weizhou, and the one who truly controlled Weizhou was not the Pingliang County Magistrate, but the Weizhou garrison commander.

Moreover, at this time, Weizhou, where Pingliang lay, was the wealthiest region in the entire western territory of the Zhangyi Army Military Governor (Jingyuan) and the Jingnan Army Military Governor (Binning).

Because it sat astride the trade route westward, and the Tanzheng Gorge (Sanguankou) west of Weizhou City was the best place to collect commercial taxes.

Besides collecting taxes, the Weizhou soldiers could also, once their sheep were fat and horses strong, ride out through Sanguankou to Yuanzhou or even Huizhou to raid the Tangut for provisions.

The warriors of the Five Dynasties were nothing like those of the late Ming. The late Ming border troops had combat strength too wretched to look at, and even Mongols without so much as an iron pot could only be struck by elite units like the Night Raiders.

But in the Five Dynasties, even the troops of a backwater western Military Governor like the Zhangyi Army could regularly cross the border to plunder.

The Tangut of Yuanzhou numbered no more than twenty or thirty thousand in all, precisely the result of being raided year after year.

Weizhou City was built just outside Sanguankou, and because it had once been a front line against the Tibetans, its walls had been built exceptionally tall.

And near the mouth of Sanguankou, a great many watchtowers and enemy platforms had also been built.

But Zhang Zhao's luck was good: the main force of this mutiny was the troops of Weizhou and Wuzhou.

By the time Zhang Zhao emerged from Sanguankou and reached the walls of Weizhou City, the troops left to guard the city had only just gotten word.

Because the soldiers originally stationed at the watchtowers and enemy platforms of Sanguankou had all been led off by their officers to join the rebellion.

Add to that the Yuanzhou Tangut, who only ever took beatings and never dared pass through Sanguankou to reach Weizhou, and no one paid any attention to this place at all. Zhang Zhao led more than ten thousand men through Sanguankou without alarm or danger.

Boom—rumble—!

Zhang Zhao led the vanguard of more than three thousand men to the walls of Weizhou City. Before they had even begun to make camp, with the rear army still in the mountain valley, there came the sound of city gates opening and the drawbridge being lowered. Weizhou City had thrown its gates wide open.

Just as the Grand Minister of Works Zhang assumed the other side had been so frightened they were opening the city to surrender, the clatter of footsteps sounded, and behind a dozen or more banners, some two thousand cavalry and infantry actually marched out of the city and formed ranks outside the walls.

"What is this...? They mean to fight us in the open field beneath the walls!"

Yan Jin, reining his horse beside Zhang Zhao, clicked his tongue and said in disbelief.

After all, my Minister of Works Zhang had fought his way through all the states of Anxi. Except when he picked small units for sneak attacks or deliberate lures, whenever the Guiyi Army matched the enemy in numbers, no one had ever dared form ranks and fight them head-on.

Before long, the Weizhou army across from them finished forming ranks, and a young officer rode out from the formation.

This young officer held a stiff bow, gripping his horse with his legs alone. Still more than a hundred paces from the Guiyi Army, he spread both arms like an eagle spreading its wings and swept them several times in succession.

With each sweep, several arrows flew, arriving two at a time. A few untrained Tangut riders from Yuanzhou, who ignored orders and rode about at will, immediately suffered for it: of five men, two were killed by three arrows, and the remaining three fled back in utter disarray.

"Wind! Wind! Wind!" The Weizhou troops arrayed beneath the city walls suddenly shouted "Wind!" three times in unison. Then red flags waved on the walls, and shouts and curses rose from all sides.

What the hell...!

Zhang Zhao and Yan Jin stared at each other, dumbfounded. This routine was so familiar! Wasn't this the very trick they always used on others?

After exchanging a few glances, Zhang Zhao's face flushed red in an instant. The other side was slapping him right in the face!

"Where is my son Xinzhang?"

The face-slapped Minister of Works Zhang had originally intended to go himself, but after considering his horsemanship and his status, he forcibly suppressed the urge and instead turned to Murong Xinzhang, who had been guarding at his side, and shouted.

Murong Xinzhang had long been seething with fury. A youth in the prime of his love for valor and combat, how could he endure others shaming his face like this?

The eldest son of the Murong let out a long howl, took up bow and spear, donned his beloved white robe, mounted his beloved silver-white warhorse, and charged out like wind and lightning.

"Hold still, you field slave! Leave your head behind!"

The young officer across the way saw Murong Xinzhang burst out with such flair, and from the horse's speed alone knew this would be hard to handle. He turned and wheeled his horse, wanting to flee.

But the Snow-Through-Dust beneath Murong Xinzhang was the foal of that Ferghana horse Zhang Zhao had captured beneath the walls of Shule, and its explosive power was outstanding even among Zhang Zhao's mounts.

The young officer had just turned his horse around when Murong Xinzhang was already within thirty-some paces of him. Startled, the young officer clamped his legs to his horse's flanks, twisted around, and loosed an arrow.

"Careful!" Zhang Zhao saw it clearly from afar, and his heart seized. If Cao Sanniang's son were lost here, how could he face anyone when he returned?

But Murong Xinzhang was prepared. The moment the young officer rose to draw his bow, Murong Xinzhang dropped into a stirrup-hide, then easily evaded the arrow.

And in that single exchange, the distance between the two horses had shrunk to a mere ten-some paces.

Murong Xinzhang simply stayed hidden at the horse's side without rising. The young officer knew things were bad—the enemy horse was too fast—so he pulled the reins left, wanting to loop around and bring his horse's head about again.

Being stabbed in the back meant certain death, since his horse could not outrun the other, but in a head-on fight, he still had some confidence.

"Well come! Taste your old man's spear!" Murong Xinzhang shouted in praise. For a man to keep such confidence at a disadvantage like this, he was no common sort.

Just as the two horses were about to pass each other, Murong Xinzhang, like a streak of white lightning, surged from the horse's side into the saddle. Holding his long lance in his left hand, he swept it lightly across the young officer's right ribs.

Though the young officer had turned his horse's head, one hand was busy controlling the horse, and the other had no time to raise his long lance.

He could only howl once, curl into a ball on the horse, and use the fine-iron round shield strapped to his right arm to take Murong Xinzhang's lance head-on.

Clang! The crisp sound of metal striking metal rang out. The young officer had actually blocked Murong Xinzhang's blow with the iron shield on his arm.

Though his arm was nearly too weak to lift, it was far better than being swept across the ribs.

And his left hand had already drawn his saber, ready to close in on Murong Xinzhang once he turned, to exploit the advantage of a short weapon at close quarters.

But how could Murong Xinzhang not have kept a trick in reserve!

"General White, turn left!" he shouted. The Snow-Through-Dust beneath him needed only the slightest twitch of the reins from Murong Xinzhang to know what to do.

This was one of the great virtues of a fine horse: they were generally clever, the cleverest possessing the intelligence of a child of a few years, and could share a rider's very thoughts.

The Snow-Through-Dust, in perfect rapport with Murong Xinzhang, turned in the tightest of arcs, while the young officer's horse had not even managed to bring its head around.

Murong Xinzhang quickly held his lance in his left hand, drew an iron cudgel with his right, caught up, and struck the young officer once across the back.

"Aiya! Wah...!" The young officer screamed, a mouthful of fresh blood spraying out. Then he swayed twice and tumbled headfirst from his horse.

Murong Xinzhang then sheathed his cavalry lance and iron cudgel, scooped up the blood-vomiting young officer with his right hand, and rode back toward Zhang Zhao's main formation.

"Hah! Ha!" The Weizhou troops beneath the walls grew frantic. A dozen or more cavalrymen immediately spurred out, wanting to seize back the captured young officer.

"Do not harm my elder brother!"

"Do not harm my younger brother!"

From the Guiyi Army side came two shouts of abuse as well. Li Cunhui and Zhang Liecheng, one on the left and one on the right, each riding a fine curly-maned piebald horse, galloped out from the formation.

When they were still seventy or eighty paces from the enemy, both men rose to stand upright on their saddles and loosed arrows left and right.

Of the dozen or so riders who had charged out from the Weizhou army, five or six fell at the sound of the bowstrings. The rest immediately lost their nerve, not daring to come any closer, and hastily retreated.

With a thud, Murong Xinzhang flung the young officer in his grasp to the ground in front of Zhang Zhao, dismounted, clasped his fists, and shouted.

"My lord, Xinzhang has not failed your command — I have captured the enemy general!"

"My lord — Commander! We two have also shot down enemy officers and returned victorious!"

"Ha ha ha!" Zhang Zhao laughed three times in excitement, feeling rather like an old father watching his children grow into adults.

"Once my steel blades and precious armor are finished, you two shall each have a set!"

Li Cunhui and Zhang Liecheng knew full well how fine Zhang Zhao's newly smelted steel was, and they were overjoyed at once.

Amid the laughter, Zhang Zhao pointed at Murong Xinzhang and said, "I have heard that Princess Shou'an, the fourteenth daughter of the late Tang Emperor Mingzong, is virtuous, gentle, and beautiful.

If in this battle we render meritorious service in carrying out the imperial summons to chastise the rebels, I will surely seek Princess Shou'an's hand in marriage for you!"

Murong Xinzhang leaped for joy on the spot. "Father, you must keep your word! Can I, Murong Xinzhang, truly marry a princess of the great dynasty?"

Sure enough, give a man a reward and "Father" comes out as smoothly as that.

Zhang Zhao waved his hand. "I never speak in jest!"

He had already thought this through. Princess Shou'an was not only Li Siyuan's daughter, she was also Shi Jingtang's sister-in-law — marrying her would be pure gain.

Zhang Zhao already had a principal wife, so Shi Jingtang and Empress Li would certainly not agree to him. But Murong Xinzhang had sufficient family standing, was brave and decisive, and cut an imposing martial figure — perhaps he really could win her.

And it would be perfect to send him in Zhang Zhao's place to the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, after the battle, to set Shi Jingtang's mind at ease.

"Tibetan slave-thieves! You rely on nothing but fine warhorses — that makes you no true men! When our great army advances, we'll cut you down so you never return to Qingtang!"

The young officer on the ground, who had just spat out blood, suddenly opened his eyes and cursed furiously. It turned out that Weizhou had long heard of Tibetans plundering Huizhou and Yuanzhou, and he had assumed Zhang Zhao and his men were those Tibetan slaves.

"Beat the drums! Order the three divisions of Erzhu Jing, Zhao Cunyi, and Luo Shande — Shanzhu'er — to attack! Let the Weizhou army see the might of my Guiyi Army warriors!"

Zhang Zhao gave a cold snort, issued the order to attack, then glared at the captured young officer on the ground.

"Hmph! You rebels — how would you recognize loyal subjects and righteous men? You shall learn the severity of the law of the realm!"

—————— Author's note ——————

For those who think single combat and champion duels before battle are a bit fantastical, or who enjoy learning about this subject, I recommend checking out the Bilibili uploader Gongshou Donglang. He has an episode specifically about historical champion duels — it's excellent.

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