Chapter 35: The Big Fish Behind the Scenes

Shouchang County seat, a small county town less than five li from the Ganquan River (the Dang River), Dunhuang's lifeline.

Though it was called a small county town, within the Guiyi Army Shouchang County had lush water and grass, fertile land, and even artificial irrigation channels left over from the Han dynasty, so although its territory was small, its produce was far from meager.

Millet, wheat, bok choy, spinach, lettuce, celery, eggplant, and other vegetables, along with beef and mutton, were produced in great quantities; Shouchang mutton in particular was rich, tender, and fresh. Thirty percent of Dunhuang city's staple grain and nearly fifty percent of its vegetables and meat depended on Shouchang County's supply.

Shouchang County was therefore absolutely vital to Dunhuang, giving rise to the saying "when Shouchang is bountiful, Dunhuang is full." Among the Guiyi Army's two prefectures and eight towns (counties), Shouchang was one of the few places that had both a town (army) garrison commissioner and a county magistrate.

East of Shouchang city stood the garrison commissioner's compound, the station of the Shouchang town army garrison commissioner.

The Shouchang town army garrison commissioner, Luo Xianda, was a powerfully built man of very tall stature. On the left side of his forehead was an extremely conspicuous dent, the result of being struck by a Uyghur's black iron hammer in the Bianqiao battle against the Ganzhou Uyghurs twenty years earlier.

Luo Xianda had been relatively fortunate, however: protected by his helmet, the blow had shattered a piece of his skull but caused no fatal injury. Instead, it had become something he boasted about over the years, and it had even saved his life once.

For Luo Xianda's elder brother, Luo Tongda, had been Chief Minister of the Main Hall during the Zhang Chengfeng period (an old institution of the Jinshan Kingdom, roughly equivalent to Grand Councilor).

This not only meant Luo Tongda was Zhang Chengfeng's trusted confidant, but also that the war against the Ganzhou Uyghurs had been vigorously advocated by Luo Tongda and Zhang Wenche, who served as Chief Minister of the Main Hall at the same time.

And later, it was precisely the overconfident war against the Ganzhou Uyghurs launched by Luo Tongda and the others that directly led to the dissolution of the Western Han Jinshan Kingdom.

So in the postwar reckoning, Zhang Wenche was ordered to take his own life, and Luo Tongda was stripped of his military command. Had Luo Xianda not carried that dent around and raised a huge ruckus all over Dunhuang city, he would at the very least have ended up imprisoned and convicted.

"Did that wet-behind-the-ears Cao Shisi really say that?" In the rear courtyard, Luo Xianda rubbed the dent on his forehead and asked somewhat irritably. Whenever the weather changed, the spot would itch and tingle unbearably, and he would grow much more agitated.

"That is exactly what he said. It is all my fault for handling things poorly. These past days Cao Shisi has had me running in circles, and I thought he was searching the surrounding area out of concern for Lady Cao Sanniang's safety. I never imagined that dog of a wretch was actually secretly sending men to Hongze Township!" Ma Yaozi, covered in dust and grime, said carefully.

"I'll fuck his old mother, that Cao Shisi!" Luo Xianda cursed, his eyes blazing. He did not think for a moment that he himself had made too much noise; rather, he felt the Cao family was making a mountain out of a molehill.

It was only a few hundred tribal households, after all. Hongze Township had so much empty land; what was wrong with settling a few people there?

"Commander, Cao Shisi's mother is your seventh niece!" Ma Yaozi said with his head lowered, tactlessly.

"Seventh my ass, niece! I have nothing to say to Luo Yingda and that whole family!" If he had not brought it up, it would have been fine, but the moment it was mentioned, Luo Xianda grew even angrier and raised his hand to give Ma Yaozi a hard slap.

Luo Yingda was Luo Xianda's paternal cousin. The Luo clan of Shazhou was also a powerful family in Dunhuang, with many brothers in the clan. Before the great battle of Bianqiao, the head of the Luo clan had naturally been Luo Xianda's full elder brother, Luo Tongda.

But after the Cao family replaced the Zhangs, Luo Tongda suffered along with the fallout. Although he was later restored to office as the highly important Military Governor's Escort Officer and appointed garrison commander of Yumen Army, he had lost the position of clan head.

For his paternal cousin Luo Yingda had seized the moment when the brothers Luo Tongda and Luo Xianda fell from power and swiftly thrown in his lot with Cao Yijin.

Luo Yingda had not only sought the hand of Cao Yijin's younger sister with a lavish bride price, but had also married his own niece to Cao Yijin's eldest son, Cao Yuande, as a concubine.

At present, Luo Yingda had risen to Chief Commander of All Inner and Outer Cavalry and Infantry, the second-highest military officer in the Guiyi Army after the Military Governor himself.

The thought of that brat who used to trail behind him, fawning and calling him "Second Brother" at every turn, now strutting around above him, made Luo Xianda's blood boil.

Yet after fuming for a long while, he could think of no good solution, because he had been caught by the throat. Under Guiyi Army law, privately settling tribal households was punishable by dismissal from office, stripping of rank, and imprisonment.

The reason Cao Shisi had not immediately reported him to the Military Governor's office and had him, his grand-uncle by marriage, arrested, was probably, first, out of consideration for his full elder brother Luo Tongda.

And second, because the Luo clan had a great many members in Shouchang. In this placement of Tuyuhun tribal households, many within the Luo family had also profited.

Because Hongze Township was Luo family territory, and the amount of tax to be paid to the Military Governor's office had long been fixed at a set quota.

The taxes paid by these newly settled tribal households therefore went directly to the Luo family rather than to the Military Governor's office. Even Luo Yingda, clan head though he was, had to protect him on the surface.

That was why Cao Shisi had used bringing Zhang Zhao to Shouchang as a threat against him, because he was a trusted old subordinate of Zhang Chengfeng.

Under the present circumstances, as long as Zhang Zhao, Zhang Chengfeng's son, came to Shouchang — no matter how he got there, as long as he arrived — it would set off endless speculation, and the Cao family would have grounds to deal with him.

And since the pretext for dealing with him would change from privately settling tribal households to harboring disloyal intentions, the rest of the Luo family would very quickly cut ties with him, and he, Luo Xianda, would be as good as dead.

"Fuck his old mother, they're forcing me to send those few hundred people from Hongze Township to Dunhuang!

But I've already taken the Murong family's benefits. Is Murong Guiying someone to be trifled with? If I send his Tuyuhun people to Dunhuang, won't the Murong family hate me to death?" Luo Xianda paced faster and faster inside the room, growing more and more anxious.

"And besides, the land tax from those few hundred tribal households has already been distributed. If the Commander sends them to Dunhuang, how will the young lords of the other branches ever agree?

The Commander might even have to pay them compensation out of his own pocket! This deal of yours pleases neither side!" Ma Yaozi interjected, again at the worst possible moment.

Hmph! Everything he said was true, but there was a time and place for it! Luo Xianda, already seething with agitation, instantly flew into a towering rage and raised his hand to give Ma Yaozi another hard slap.

This time Ma Yaozi was clever. With a sudden leap he sprang to the window, then immediately slipped outside.

"Commander, I still have to go see Yu Niang tonight. If you slap both sides red, how will I show my face?"

"Fuck your old mother! I'm about to die of anxiety, and you're still in the mood to sneak off and meet that slut of a widow tonight! I hit you twice and you run — I never should have pulled you out of that cattle pen in the first place!" Seeing that Ma Yaozi actually dared to run, Luo Xianda cursed even more viciously.

"Get back in here!"

Ma Yaozi could only cover his face and slink back in, dejected. Never mind a hard slap — even if Luo Xianda wanted his life, he would have to give it, because his life, all his skills, and his present official rank had all been given to him by Luo Xianda.

"Don't go see that slut... Yu Niang tonight!" Luo Xianda had already gotten the word "slut" out, but after glancing at Ma Yaozi standing to the side, he changed his wording.

"Go to the army and find some seasoned fighters you know well, men who can handle themselves, and head straight west. Cut off Young Lord Zhang Erlang and Zhang Zhong, give them a few horses and some money and provisions, and tell him to get as far away as he can!"

"And what if he won't leave?" Ma Yaozi, seeing that he was not going to be hit, lowered his hands.

"Won't leave? Hah! If he won't leave, is that lance in your hand just for show?"

Luo Xianda's face darkened completely, and the blood vessels at the dent in his forehead pulsed. A flicker of guilt suddenly crossed his face, then swiftly slipped away from the corner of his mouth.

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