Chapter 360: Wind Rises in Hexi, the Soul Returns

Li Xiuyun came and then left again. Just as Zhang Zhao was rubbing his sore, pinched waist and still savoring the memory, Li Xiuyun left behind a letter and vanished.

Only then did Zhang Zhao understand that Li Xiuyun's arrival had carried a deeper meaning.

According to the custom among powerful families of this era when marrying off a daughter, one month before the grand wedding, a carefully trained maidservant of the household would be sent to spend a night with the prospective son-in-law, to confirm that he had no physical defects.

Zhang Zhao certainly had no defects. Whether he had any, Cao Yanxi's own elder sister, Lady Cao Sanniang, surely knew — and Zhang Zhao's two sons and one daughter could hardly be fake.

Yet the Guiyi Army elders of Gua and Sha prefectures were still willing to go through with this, which could only mean one thing.

They had already decided to stake everything on Zhang Zhao — so much so that they were willing to offer a beauty of Li Xiuyun's background and looks as a concubine to accompany the bride.

Seeing this, Zhang Zhao knew he had to return to Dunhuang once more, to fully absorb all the strength of the Cao family's Guiyi Army for his own use.

Just as Zhang Zhao was preparing to make a trip back to Dunhuang, envoys from the Central Plains court arrived one wave after another, all urging the Guiyi Army's tribute mission to set out.

Zhang Zhao's maternal grandfather, Song Tongyi, now sixty-four years old, appeared exceptionally hale and spirited.

Ever since he had arrived in Liangzhou to see Zhang Zhao, he had radiated the deep satisfaction of an old man whose heart was at ease, the smile never leaving his face.

After the Lantern Festival, the Later Jin court in the Central Plains finalized Zhang Zhao's rewards. His requests — the return of Qinzhou to Longyou, a thousand craftsmen, and the marriage to Murong Xinzhang — were all granted.

The Central Plains court also opened Hexi salt for sale in Guanzhong, which was another considerable source of income.

However, in exchange for selling Hexi salt, Zhang Zhao also had to agree to sell Hexi horses to the court.

That was a trivial matter. Zhang Zhao thought it over and agreed.

Hexi horses did not specifically mean Ferghana horses or folded-ear horses. Of those two breeds, Zhang Zhao had only a few thousand each, so he certainly would not part with them. But the Liangzhou horses, which were just as fine, could be sold off in some quantity.

And Zhang Zhao's one-character princely title was also settled: Han.

When he heard that Shi Jingtang was going to enfeoff him as King of Han, Zhang Zhao was stunned for a long moment, then nearly laughed in anger.

He truly wanted to give Shi Jingtang — or Sang Weihan — twenty-four thumbs-up for their cleverness.

According to the convention of this era for selecting a princely title, there were three one-character titles that could have been conferred on Zhang Zhao.

The first was to enfeoff Zhang Zhao as King of Liang, based on Liangzhou, the seat of his Hexi-Longyou Military Governor's office.

If the title were chosen based on Zhang Zhao's ancestral home, there were two options.

Zhang Zhao's ancestral home was Nanyang. During the Warring States period, most of that territory belonged to the state of Chu, while a small part belonged to the state of Han — hence the two options of King of Han and King of Chu.

Comparing the meanings behind the three titles — King of Liang, King of Chu, and King of Han — was quite interesting.

First, King of Liang. This title was not an ancient state from the Spring and Autumn or Warring States periods, so it had always carried a strong connotation of independence.

Whether it was the Western Liang armies of Dong Zhuo, who wreaked havoc on the court at the end of the Eastern Han, or the Former Liang, Later Liang, Northern Liang, and Southern Liang of the Sixteen Kingdoms and Northern and Southern Dynasties periods —

all these Kings of Liang shared one common attribute: they were essentially warlords who ruled as sovereigns in their own right.

If Shi Jingtang had given Zhang Zhao the title King of Liang, would that not be an implicit admission that Zhang Zhao, this King of Liang holding Hexi and Longyou, was likewise a feudal lord?

Then this "eighteen prefectures returned to the state" would become an empty phrase. So Shi Jingtang, for the sake of face, directly rejected the title King of Liang.

Next, King of Chu. Chu was a great power of the pre-Qin era — one of the Five Hegemons of the Spring and Autumn period and the Seven Warring States, the one that inquired about the weight of the Zhou Son of Heaven's nine tripods.

Qin, Chu, Qi, and Jin had always been the finest characters among one-character princely titles. In particular, that allusion of "inquiring about the weight of the tripods" made Shi Jingtang deeply uncomfortable.

So the title King of Han was one that greatly pleased Shi Jingtang.

First of all, Han was also one of the Seven Warring States, so one could not say it lacked prestige.

But beyond that, Han's performance during the Warring States period could only be described with a string of the character for "disaster."

Apart from destroying the state of Zheng after the Partition of Jin, and enjoying a brief moment of glory during the reforms of Shen Buhai under King Zhao of Han, Han had been in a state of continuous collapse.

Situated in a land contested on all sides, it was attacked by whoever happened to be rising, just to make a point.

When Wei grew powerful and seized the lands west of the Yellow River, it gave Han a couple of slaps in passing.

When Qin grew powerful and marched east out of Hangu Pass to strike Wei, it always found time to give Han a couple of blows as well.

When the Chu people marched north, they too harassed it.

When Zhao adopted Hu-style cavalry and archery, it also had to beat up Han to show its presence.

When Wei and Qi contended for hegemony and fought the Battle of Maling, Han was helplessly cast as the victim and the backdrop.

When Qin and Zhao clashed in the Battle of Changping, Han was beaten until barely half a life remained.

Among the six states, the first to be destroyed by Qin was also Han.

One could say that throughout the entire Warring States period, Han was the weakling bullied by everyone — the ultimate victim of classroom bullying.

Its whole being exuded the flavor of "this Han is just so lame!"

And that quality was exactly what Shi Jingtang wanted to express.

Of course, what Zhang Zhao did not know was that the title King of Han had originally been prepared by Shi Jingtang as a posthumous enfeoffment for Li Sizhao.

This man was an adopted son of Li Keyong — one of the legendary Thirteen Grand Guardians of the Li Prince of Jin.

And in order to avoid conferring the titles King of Liang or King of Chu on Zhang Zhao, Shi Jingtang had deliberately changed Li Sizhao's posthumous title to King of Fenyang, precisely to keep the title King of Han available for Zhang Zhao.

"How dare this shameless child-emperor act so?"

Song Tongyi was furious. He felt that his grandson, having returned the eighteen prefectures of Hexi and Longyou to the state, deserved no less than King of Chu for such magnificent achievement — not King of Han.

Zhang Zhao also gave a cold laugh. Playing dirty, is it? He had originally intended not to go too far, but now it seemed that not going too far was no longer an option, because the child-emperor was refusing the face he had been given.

But Zhang Zhao would not refuse the title King of Han!

After all, it was still a one-character princely title. He had returned to the state under the banner of righteousness, presenting himself publicly as utterly selfless. If he then wrangled with the Central Plains court over the title, it would badly damage his image.

Besides, he still had plenty of time and means to obtain the title King of Chu or King of Liang. There was no need to fight over it at this moment.

So the maneuvering Zhang Zhao intended to do was still on the matter of the eighteen prefectures of Hexi and Longyou returning to the state.

Zhang Zhao patted his grandfather Song Tongyi on the back, urging the old man not to be angry, and explained his thinking to Song Tongyi.

At once, the old man raised his head in astonishment, gaining a new understanding of this grandson he did not know very well.

In the fourth year of Tianfu of the Later Jin, 938 CE, in the third month, Zhang Zhao appointed his maternal grandfather Song Tongyi as Deputy Commissioner of the Guiyi Army, Marching Marshal of the Hexi-Longyou Military Governor's office, and Special Envoy for the Return of the Eighteen Prefectures.

He carried with him three hundred Hexi tribute horses, six hundred Hexi palace-guard elite cavalry, and three hundred special envoys from the various peoples of Hexi and Longyou — sons of Tang, the various Qiang, Tangut, the the Shatuo, Uyghur, Longjia, Kucha, and Tatar.

They set out from Liangzhou, crossed Hongchi Ridge into Lanzhou, then took the Didao road into Longxi, and finally entered Guanzhong from Tianshui.

Just one day after Song Tongyi passed through Qinzhou, the Xiongwu Army of Qinzhou very "coincidentally" erupted in mutiny.

Several thousand Xiongwu Army yabing guards refused the court's order to transfer to Fengxiang. They seized the government offices and drove out the Troop Commander sent by Li Congyan, Prince of Qin.

Upon hearing of this, Zhang Zhao personally led seven thousand cavalry and infantry of the Guiyi Army straight from Weizhou to Qinzhou.

As for why Great King Zhang happened to be in Weizhou, only a few dozen li from Qinzhou — well, that too was mainly "coincidence," was it not.

After Zhang Zhao arrived in Qinzhou, he directly arrested the yabing guards and yabing officers who had led the disturbance, "banished" them to Liangzhou, and then announced a general amnesty for the soldiers.

The Xiongwu Army yabing guards who would not have to leave their homeland, and the people of Qinzhou, erupted in thunderous cheers. Zhang Zhao then sent men to escort Kang Fu, Military Governor of the Xiongwu Army, out of the territory with full courtesy.

Kang Fu wailed and wept as he departed with a few dozen trusted yabing guards, gnashing his teeth and vowing to go to the Eastern Capital to lodge a complaint. Yet his party of a few dozen traveled even more slowly than Song Tongyi's party of over a thousand.

At the end of the fourth month, Song Tongyi's Hexi-Longyou Return-to-the-Nation mission halted when it reached Chang'an.

Chang'an at this time had escaped the ravages of mutinous troops. An Shenqi, Military Governor of the Jinchang Army, could be counted among the more capable governors of the Five Dynasties.

Of course, the most important factor was that after Zhang Zhao opened up the Hexi Corridor, the Silk Road had finally begun to function well again.

Though it could not compare with the Great Tang at its height, compared with the period after the An-Shi Rebellion, there had still been a considerable degree of improvement.

With the Silk Road functioning, the economic vitality of Chang'an had actually begun to recover step by step.

The population was more than ten thousand greater than when Zhang Zhao had left, mostly merchants from various regions and skilled workers in the silk-weaving trade returning.

Outside Chang'an, beyond the Kaiyuan Gate, Li Shouling of the Li Tang imperial clan — who for years had presided over the rites for the successive emperors of the Li Tang — Guo Zhao, sixth-generation descendant of Guo Ziyi, Prince of Fenyang, and a great host of other surviving loyalists of the fallen Tang now gathered outside the Kaiyuan Gate to wait.

When the great banner of the Guiyi Army with the character "Zhang" came into distant view, the whole area outside Kaiyuan Gate erupted in thunderous cheers, and drums and music rang out to shake the heavens.

More than half the residents of Chang'an, and even many yabing guards of the Jinchang Army, had come along to the Kaiyuan Gate.

They cheered too, though they did not know why they were cheering. They simply felt happy.

When the mission drew near, Li Shouling led a dozen or so elders of the Li Tang imperial clan in a row to present Song Tongyi with a great bowl of rice wine.

As Li Shouling raised the wine bowl and walked toward Song Tongyi, the elders began to chant in unison.

"The thunder rumbles, on the southern face of the southern mountain. Why has he left, left like this, daring no rest or ease? That steadfast noble man — return, oh return!

The thunder rumbles, on the side of the southern mountain. Why has he left, left like this, daring no rest or pause? That steadfast noble man — return, oh return!

The thunder rumbles, below the southern mountain. Why has he left, left like this, daring no rest or stay? That steadfast noble man — return, oh return!"

This is "The Thunder Rumbles" from the "Airs of the States — Shaonan," written in the voice of a wife calling her husband home from distant service.

Its general meaning is: The thunder rumbles, rumbles loud, rumbling on the southern mountain's sunny peak. Why leave home at such a time? So busy he dares not take a moment's ease. How diligent is my noble lord! Come back quickly, come back and let us gather in joy.

This air from the Book of Songs was so perfectly suited to the occasion.

Were not the soldiers of Anxi, Hexi, and Longyou just like those brave and diligent noble men, guarding the frontier for the nation — only to fall under the Tibetans and never return, their kin so desperately longing for them to come home?

Song Tongyi's tears fell like rain in an instant. He took the rice wine from Li Shouling's hands and drained it in one draught.

At that moment, behind Song Tongyi, Guo Tiance, representing the sons of Tang of Anxi, and the eminent monk Yang He of Huixing,

Zhang Huaiqing, the sole surviving member of the Zhang family's "Huai" generation representing the sons of Tang of Hexi, and Cao Renrong, cousin of Cao Yijin,

and the representatives of the sons of Tang of Longyou — Li Jianhou, clan head of the Li family of Guzang, and Chen Nianban of the Chen family of Yangfei Valley in the Six Valleys of Liangzhou —

stepped forward together to support Song Tongyi, and they too began to answer with a song from the Book of Songs.

"We pluck the ferns, pluck the ferns — the ferns have just begun to sprout. We say return, say return, but the year is already ending. No home, no house — because of the Xianyun. No time to rest or settle — because of the Xianyun.

We pluck the ferns, pluck the ferns — the ferns are now tender and soft. We say return, say return, but our hearts are heavy with worry. Our worried hearts burn fierce, hungry and thirsty. Our posting is not yet settled — no one to send home with word of us.

We pluck the ferns, pluck the ferns — the ferns have now grown tough. We say return, say return, and the year has turned warm again. The king's service never ends — no time to rest or stay. Our worried hearts are sick with grief — we march on, and may never come back!

Long ago when we set out, the willows swayed soft and green. Now as we come back, the sleet and snow fall thick. The road is slow and hard, we thirst, we hunger. Our hearts are full of sorrow — and no one knows our grief!"

We pluck the ferns, pluck them by the handful; the fern shoots have grown tall. Saying go home, saying go home — before we know it, another year is gone.

Having a home is like having no home, for we must go fight the Xianyun. No leisure even to sit down, for we must go fight the Xianyun.

We pluck the ferns, pluck them by the handful; the ferns are tender, just budding. Saying go home, saying go home — our hearts are heavy with worry and longing.

Our hearts full of burning sorrow, hungry and thirsty, truly miserable. Our postings shift and cannot be settled — by whom can we send a letter home?

Driving a team of four great stallions, the horses tall and mighty. The general stands majestic, leaning on the chariot; the soldiers take cover behind it too.

How orderly the four horses are, fish-skin quivers and carved bows hanging. Not a day without vigilance — the war is urgent, the armor never comes off!

Recalling when we first set out to war, the willows swayed soft in the wind. Now on the road back, the great snow swirls and fills the sky.

The road is muddy and hard to walk, thirsty and hungry, truly exhausted. Our hearts full of sorrow, full of grief. Who can understand our pain!

There is absolutely nothing more fitting than "Plucking the Ferns" from the "Minor Odes" to express the feelings of Anxi, Hexi, and Longyou, fallen beneath barbarian dust for one hundred and fifty years.

Why could they not go home? Was it not because they were locked in battle with enemies like the Xianyun and could not break free?

Day after day, year after year, holding on in a hopeless dead end with no hope in sight.

It began with Yang Zhilie, Military Governor of Hexi, who died in battle in the first year of Yongtai under Emperor Daizong of Tang, 765 AD.

Then came Zhou Ding, Yan Chao, Li Yuanzhong, Yang Xigu, a certain Erzhu, and finally Guo Xin, Prince of Wucheng — ten thousand li of lonely city, nothing but white-haired soldiers.

Long ago when we set out, the willows swayed soft and green. Now as we come back, the sleet and snow fall thick.

These lines, Song Tongyi and the others sang three times through, until all who sang wept like rain.

Suddenly, in the cloudless sky, a few dry, cold breezes stirred, and in less time than it takes to drink a cup of tea, fine snowflakes drifted down.

Countless people of Chang'an, led by Li Shouling and the others, carried Song Tongyi and his party on sedan chairs along the ruined and dilapidated Vermilion Bird Avenue toward the Danfeng Gate of the Daming Palace.

There, with silver Zhang Zhao had provided when he left, Li Shouling and the others had built a family shrine for the emperors of the Great Tang just outside the Danfeng Gate, where rites were held.

If anyone could have looked down from the sky at that moment, nearly the entire city of Chang'an would have been astir — countless bobbing heads, a dark mass pressing in from every direction toward the Daming Palace.

Outside the Daming Palace, the ceremonial music for announcing rites to the ancestors began to play. Before the spirit tablets of the twenty-one emperors of the Li Tang, under the witness of countless eyes, portrait after portrait in military dress was carried into this shrine of a familial temple to be honored alongside them.

They were:

Yang Zhilie, Military Governor of Hexi and Deputy Marshal of Hexi of the Great Tang.

Yang Xiuming, Military Governor of Hexi and Military Governor of the Yixi Beiting of the Great Tang.

Zhou Ding, Duke of Cai, of the Great Tang — holder of the rank of Kaifu Yitong Sansi, Acting Minister of Works, Censor-in-Chief, Military Governor and Surveillance Commissioner of Hexi, and Prefect of Shazhou.

Yan Gongchao of the Great Tang, Specially Advanced with Ceremonial Regalia Equal to the Three Excellencies, Commander-in-Chief of All Troops of Shazhou, and Prefect of Shazhou.

Yang Xigu of the Great Tang, Grand Protector-General of Beiting, Commissioner of the Beiting Military Governorship, Support Commissioner, Field Commissioner, and Hanhai Commissioner.

A certain Lord Erzhu of the Great Tang, Military Governor and Surveillance Commissioner of the Four Garrisons of Anxi.

Li Yuanzhong of the Great Tang, Grand Protector-General of Beiting, Military Governor of Beiting, and Prince of Ningsai Commandery.

Guo Xin of the Great Tang, Acting Left Vice Director of the Department of State Affairs, Censor-in-Chief, Grand Protector-General of Anxi, Military Governor of the Four Garrisons, and Prince of Wuwei Commandery.

Nine armored portraits in all — these were the loyal holdouts of the Great Tang who had fought on alone ever since the Tibetans seized Anxi and Hexi.

They had resisted the Tibetans from the first year of Shangyuan under Emperor Suzong of Tang (760) all the way to the third year of Yuanhe under Emperor Xianzong of Tang (808) — a full forty-eight years.

They had resisted from children with bound hair into tottering old men, and even in the end they never submitted; their sons and grandsons kept up the bitter struggle.

And after them, the Guiyi Army became the ones to carry the torch.

After the nine portraits were enshrined in the temple, Song Tongyi stood before the temple with tears swimming in his eyes, looked out at no fewer than ten thousand of Chang'an's common folk, and said:

"When this old man set out, Great King Zhang, Military Governor of Hexi and Longyou and Prince of Wuwei Commandery, entrusted me with these words.

The soldiers of Anxi, Hexi, and Longyou have never forgotten their homeland. That we have returned today is owed not only to loyal ministers like the white-haired Commandery Prince Guo Xin, but to the hundreds of thousands of soldiers of Anxi, Hexi, and Longyou.

Though that was two hundred years ago, and we do not even know their names, we can raise a spirit statue for them, so that their souls may return to the Chang'an they longed for day and night!"

The moment Song Tongyi's words fell, the whole city erupted. Countless commoners rushed about spreading the word, and before long, the great stones for carving the spirit statue had been hauled over by the people of Chang'an.

Stones weighing several thousand jin, moved only by rolling them over logs laid beneath, were rolled the entire length of Zhuque Avenue from outside the city walls all the way to outside the Daming Palace.

Some commoners even laid the great roof beams they had saved for building their houses flat on the ground to serve as rollers.

Sogdian merchants from the west of the city bought several hundred sheep and several hundred shi of millet to provide the meals.

The city's stonemasons gathered of their own accord with their tools, and under the direction of the master craftsman from Hexi, began to carve.

In less than three days, a majestic statue of a frontier soldier in armor, spear in hand, guarding the border, stood outside the Daming Palace.

Before the spirit statue, a stele was also erected, its inscription reading:

"Since the Champion Marquis of the Former Han established commanderies in the Qilian Mountains and opened Zhangye for the realm, a thousand years of Han sons who opened up Hexi — may your souls return!"

An Shenqi did nothing. He simply stood there watching in silence, until the spirit statue was completed and even the yabing guards of his own Jinchang Army were shaken to the core and stricken with grief. Only then did he quietly say to those beside him:

"In this world, the hearts of the people have already chosen their side, and the great tide is set. This wind rises from Hexi. We should move with the wind, so that this life is not lived in vain!"

In the crowd, Li Yongji, second son of Li Congyan, was so shocked that all color drained from his face. His strength left him and he sat down hard on the ground, waving for his attendants to hurry back to Fengxiang Prefecture.

"Tell Father at once: the Prince of Wuwei Commandery has already won the hearts of Guanzhong. Even the estate temples from his days in Taiyuan cannot compare!

I beg Father to return the people of Qinzhou, withdraw the checkpoints at Qinzhou and Fengxiang, and send rich gifts with humble words. Perhaps then our Li family can preserve its wealth and rank."

——— Author's note ———

After several revisions, I'm still not entirely satisfied, but this tiger only has so much literary talent. In recent years, the stories of the Anxi Army and the Guiyi Army have gradually become known to more people. At last they are no longer just lonely murals and cold words in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang.

With a thousand words and ten thousand thoughts, I hardly know what to say, so I simply wrote two thousand extra characters. I wish all my readers a peaceful Dragon Boat Festival, and thank you for your subscriptions and support.

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