Chapter 350: A Match for Ten Thousand at Sishui Pass

The September sun blazed down like a great furnace, scorching the earth.

Fortunately, this was still the Little Ice Age, with temperatures generally four or five degrees lower than in later times, so marching was still barely possible.

All the way north, the cities of Binzhou and Jingzhou, which had been ravaged by the rebel troops, unexpectedly had people living in them again.

Most of them were villagers from the surrounding hills. After the rebels had slaughtered the people who had occupied the rich lands of these two prefectures, they came down from the hills to claim the fertile fields and make a living.

Among them, Lady Han Qi even recognized some surviving former neighbors, and Zhang Zhao took the opportunity to recruit some of them to go to Liangzhou.

For those unwilling to go, Zhang Zhao began appointing them, on his own authority, as village elders, ward heads, and neighborhood chiefs, temporarily setting up a basic order and administrative structure.

Besides appointing the lowest-level officials, Zhang Zhao also issued them land deeds, recognizing their right of possession over the land.

In this way, he cut off the path by which court officials could later bring great households to annex the land.

As for the possibility that later court officials and great households might refuse to recognize the validity of the land deeds Zhang Zhao issued, or might annex the land by forcibly taking it back, Zhang Zhao could not have cared less.

Because in that case he would lose nothing, and instead the common people who had received land deeds from him would hate the court officials all the more.

The next time he entered Guanzhong, these people who had lost their land would become his most powerful supporters.

And so Zhang Zhao marched and halted by turns, and by the time he reached Weizhou, Zhang the Minister of Works had already issued land deeds for over a million mu of land, benefiting more than a hundred thousand people, all of whom would become his supporters in the future.

When he reached Weizhou, the army of Zhang Zhao was greeted by welcoming crowds filling the city, who welcomed Zhang Zhao and the Guiyi Army as if welcoming their own people.

Well! They truly were their own people, because among the Guiyi Army there were several hundred sons of Weizhou.

Some time ago, when Zhang Zhao destroyed the family of Garrison Commander Wang, he had in the end kept more than ten thousand mu of the best land for himself.

Zhang Zhao directly settled the meritorious among these several hundred men, especially the dozen or so who had received the first-grade merit award, onto these ten thousand-plus mu of land.

But he did not divide the land among them; instead he made them his own tenants, except that the rent Zhang Zhao demanded was very low.

Incidentally, Zhang Zhao also appointed a man named Zhao Jun, a Companion Rong Colonel of the upper ninth rank, to be responsible for managing these people in detail.

In addition, Zhang Zhao asked Kang Fu to memorialize the appointment of Wu Guo'er's elder brother Wu Ying'er as Prefect of Weizhou, and at the same time took Wu Guo'er and more than thirty other sons of the great clans of Weizhou with him to Liangzhou.

From now on, no matter who became Military Governor of Zhangyi, it would probably be very hard for him to escape Zhang Zhao's shadow.

After resting and reorganizing in Weizhou for three days, the great army continued west, passed through Tanzheng Gorge, and arrived at Yuanzhou.

And the situation in Yuanzhou was actually much better than Zhang Zhao had expected.

Liu Zaisheng had not only firmly held Yuanzhou, but had also led the remaining old and weak Tangut left behind to repair roads, build waterworks, and open up wasteland. When Zhang Zhao returned and looked, Yuanzhou was thriving.

In fact, Li Zhongchao was not the man who could completely control Yuanzhou, because the Tangut of Yuanzhou were actually a tribal confederation.

Li Zhongchao and his son were merely the chieftains of the largest tribe among them, elected as the leaders of the Yuanzhou Tangut.

In view of this, after a long talk between Zhang Zhao and Liu Zaisheng, Liu Zaisheng also agreed to remain in Yuanzhou.

The reason was simple: Liu Zaisheng's family was a great Han clan of the Golden Kingdom of Khotan, and the education Liu Zaisheng had received was very comprehensive, far more comprehensive than that of someone like Guo Tiance, who could only acquire knowledge through Nestorian scriptures and incomplete books.

However, although Liu Zaisheng had read many books and his physique and martial skills were quite good, he really had no talent for high command.

His abilities somewhat resembled Yin Yaozi's, but Yin Yaozi was still a bit better than him, because Yin Yaozi could handle logistics and was also skilled at defending cities.

Liu Zaisheng, by contrast, was somewhat off-track. Militarily, at most he could serve as a battalion Commander leading about a thousand men; the rest of his talents were all invested in the pastoral side of things.

One could say that as a Prefect of a prefecture, especially as a frontier-defense prefect or governor in dynasties like the Song or Ming, he would be qualified.

But in that case, his position within Zhang Zhao's group became somewhat awkward.

Militarily, as a vanguard fierce general, he was no match for Man Xiong or Dunzhu; in command he was inferior to Yan Jin and Ma Shacai; logistics had Yin Yaozi; and in civil administration, Zhang Zhao's warriors did not yet hold much territory.

So it was only upon arriving in Yuanzhou that Liu Zaisheng felt like a fish in water.

Militarily, in a place like Yuanzhou, the ability to command a thousand or so elite troops was quite sufficient.

In civil administration, Yuanzhou had no particularly powerful great clans, which suited him perfectly for putting his abilities to full use.

Thereupon Zhang Zhao wrote a memorial overnight, recommending Liu Zaisheng for appointment as Grand Master of the Palace with Silver Seal and Blue Ribbon, Prefect of Yuanzhou, and concurrently Defense Commissioner of Yuanzhou, to garrison Yuanzhou.

As for Li Zhongchao, his son, and his grandson, Li Zhongchao had suffered a leg wound on the battlefield and it seemed he would retire to the second line.

Li Zhongchao's son was of ordinary ability, so Zhang Zhao recommended him for the upper fourth-rank military honorary title of General Who Proclaims Might, plus Liangzhou's own seventh-grade merit title of Commandant of Light Chariots, and let him drink wine, eat meat, and beget children in Yuanzhou. How fine.

Li Zhongchao's grandson had some talent: he was skilled in bow and horse, and could also apply himself to books.

Zhang Zhao took it upon himself to have him entered into the genealogy of the Li clan of Guzang in Liangzhou, gave him the name Li Xiaojie, placed him in Zhang Zhao's adopted-son army, taught him personally, and also made him a member of the Hanshan Capital Guard, attending at his side.

Through these four measures working together, Zhang Zhao successfully brought Yuanzhou under his own control.

Liu Zaisheng's garrisoning of Yuanzhou would make it convenient for Zhang Zhao to intervene with the Military Governor of Zhangyi in the future.

At the same time, beyond Yuanzhou lay Qingzhou. The Dongshan Tangut of Qingzhou and the Pingxia-bu Tangut of Xiazhou were together known as the two great Tangut tribal groups.

Through Yuanzhou, Zhang Zhao could continuously support the Tangut of Qingzhou, making trouble for the already powerful Tangut Dingnan Army's Li family, which was constantly reaching its hand toward Qingzhou.

At the very least, he could prevent them from easily swallowing up the Qingzhou Tangut as they had in history, and finally seizing the territory of the Lingwu Military Governor.

With Yuanzhou stabilized, the Qingzhou Tangut Li Yanli also departed from Zhang Zhao with more than a thousand cavalry.

Zhang Zhao did not forcibly detain Li Yanli, because the time was not yet right.

When they departed, Zhang Zhao bestowed a large amount of wealth and goods upon Li Yanli and the Qingzhou Tangut cavalry.

He also staged a ten-li send-off, escorting the thousand-odd Tangut cavalry to more than ten li west of Yuanzhou, and only after their figures had completely vanished did Zhang Zhao return to Yuanzhou city.

This moved Li Yanli and the others to the point of tears. Riding the folded-ear horses Zhang Zhao had given them, wearing the leather armor and some iron armor Zhang Zhao had given them, they departed full of gratitude.

Li Yanli and a few others even had suits of cotton armor; the weapons in their hands and the sugar, salt, tea, and other rewards loaded on their other horses were all given by Zhang Zhao.

One can imagine what a shock they would bring to the other Dongshan Tangut when they returned to Qingzhou!

When the Li family of the Dingnan Army came with their paltry trinkets to recruit them, they would surely meet with collective disdain.

After passing Yuanzhou and continuing north, one reached Huizhou on the banks of the Yellow River.

After Zhang Zhao took control of Yuanzhou, he had ordered Ma Shacai to lead troops, under the pretext of pursuing the rebel Li clan of the the the Shatuo in Lanzhou, to force the surrender of the Tangut tribes there.

Huizhou was even more important to Zhang Zhao than Yuanzhou, because Huizhou lay right on the banks of the Yellow River and was the key strategic point on the route from Lanzhou to Lingzhou of the Shuofang Military Governor.

Taking a boat from Huizhou and going downstream, one could reach Lingzhou in as little as three days.

Therefore Huizhou was a place Zhang Zhao absolutely had to take. So as soon as the great army arrived at Huizhou, Zhang Zhao summoned Ma Shacai to inquire about the situation, then directly forced the seventeen Tangut tribes of Huizhou, totaling more than twenty thousand people, to migrate westward en masse to Liangzhou.

He then ordered the Wang clan of Jincheng to send five hundred households, over two thousand people, and the Sulun family likewise to send five hundred households, over two thousand people, to relocate to Huizhou. The Han people who had followed Zhang Zhao here would also have two thousand people settling in this place.

Beyond this, Zhang Zhao also had Li Cunhui return to Liangzhou ahead of time, ordering the Acting Military Governor left in charge, Yin Yaozi, and the Prefect of Liangzhou, Song Shantong, to summon five or six hundred households of the six tribes' herders, over three thousand people, to completely control Huizhou.

A migration of tens of thousands of people like this, especially the forced relocation of the Huizhou Tangut to Lanzhou, was no easy matter.

Zhang Zhao could only station his army in Huizhou for the time being and personally oversee the matter, striving to complete the population transfer of Huizhou at the smallest cost.

Just as Zhang Zhao was staying in Huizhou relocating the various Tangut tribes, and had sent men to Liangzhou to summon the six tribes' herders southward.

An Shenqi conscripted three thousand men of the Xiongwu Army, five thousand of the Jinchang Army, and four thousand of the Zhenguo Army, plus six hundred of Zhang Zhao's Hexi light cavalry, for a total of twelve thousand six hundred men.

Counting auxiliary troops and logistics laborers, it was proclaimed a host of fifty thousand, marching east out of Tong Pass to attack Zhang Congbin, who held Luoyang.

And Shi Jingtang, upon learning that An Shenqi had marched from Tong Pass, was overjoyed, and called upon the veteran general Hou Yi from the time of Li Keyong.

Shi Jingtang appointed Hou Yi as Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front Camp, with his brother-in-law, the Military Governor of Luzhou, Du Chongwei, as deputy, to campaign west against Zhang Congbin.

By this time, Zhang Congbin had killed Shi Jingtang's two sons, and everyone in the army, high and low, knew there was surely no way out alive.

Zhang Congbin knew it too, of course, so he opened the Luoyang treasuries, seized the gold and silk of Heyang and two other cities, and bestowed it all upon his soldiers. The rebel troops' morale soared because of it.

In the tenth month, Hou Yi led five thousand elite soldiers to the foot of Sishui Pass, and Zhang Congbin gathered over ten thousand yabing guards and formed ranks outside the pass as well.

Historically, this battle took place several months later. By then Zhang Congbin had been besieged and fought for several months, his strength exhausted and his resources spent, and he formed ranks at Sishui Pass for one final gamble.

And Hou Yi's five thousand elite soldiers had been drawn from every resource Shi Jingtang could spare for him. The troops were crack, the grain ample, the armor and weapons beyond question, so Hou Yi took the initiative and attacked with his five thousand elites, defeating Zhang Congbin's ten thousand-odd yabing guards.

But in this battle today, it was only because Shi Jingtang had heard that An Shenqi was marching out of Tong Pass that he ordered Hou Yi to strike. Historically, An Shenqi had not even settled Guanzhong until after Zhang Congbin's defeat and death.

So Zhang Congbin was not yet at the end of his strength. On the contrary, following the principle of taking the easier enemy first, he had come to strike Hou Yi first.

Thus the two armies fought from morning until dusk, clashing in seven or eight bouts, with neither able to gain the upper hand.

In the end, however, the scales of victory began to tip toward Zhang Congbin, because he had Sishui Pass—that is, Hulao Pass—as his base.

Hou Yi, meanwhile, had not had time to erect a stockade. As the sky darkened, he had already begun to think of withdrawing, preparing to find a walled town to rest and regroup.

Once a man thinks of retreat, he can no longer fight with full strength. Zhang Congbin saw through Hou Yi's mind as well, and personally led a ferocious assault. The Jin army's collapse was only moments away.

At that very moment, from the southwest of Sishui Pass came the sudden sound of hoofbeats. A cavalry force of over a thousand riders burst out from the southwest.

Most of them rode tall, powerful horses suited to charging, moving at extreme speed. At their head was a valiant young general in white robes on a white horse, like Xue Rengui reborn, and the cavalry under him could draw stiff bows even from horseback.

They loosed arrows from both sides, and in an instant shot down a swath of Zhang Congbin's right wing. Before the disordered troops could adjust, the thousand-odd cavalry had already driven through the gap opened in the right wing and plunged straight into Zhang Congbin's central army.

Hou Yi, seeing this, hurriedly ordered the war drums beaten, and had the laborers and auxiliary troops shout, "The court's Daibei light cavalry has arrived!"

Zhang Congbin's army fell into chaos. The young white-robed general cast aside his bow, took up a lance, and charged furiously toward Zhang Congbin's position, while Hou Yi and Du Chongwei seized the moment to lead their troops in a sweeping assault.

The disordered army was utterly routed, and in the confusion Zhang Congbin was knocked from his horse by a single lance blow from the white-robed general, then captured alive on the spot.

After the battle, Du Chongwei was so envious he drooled, his eyes flashing with menace, looking very much as though he wanted to seize the great merit of capturing and killing Zhang Congbin.

Everyone knew how great a merit it would be to bring this man back to Kaifeng!

However, An Shouzhong, the adopted son of An Shenqi, dissuaded Du Chongwei.

"This is the adopted son of Military Governor Zhang of Hexi. He once took the head of He Chuan, the rebel commander of Guanzhong, amid ten thousand troops. The army calls him Xue Baipao—he has the valor to withstand ten thousand men!"

When Du Chongwei heard that the man had backing, and was moreover too brave to oppose, he gave up the idea of seizing the credit.

At the same time, military reports from Guanzhong and Luoyang flew toward Kaifeng like snowflakes.

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