Chapter 361: This Thing, You Cannot Grasp It

In Luoyang, at the Purple Myrtle Palace, the sun was just rising as the Guiyi Army's delegation of the eighteen prefectures of Hexi and Longyou arrived from Tong Pass.

Along the way, from the Zhenguo Army of Huazhou, the Kuangguo Army of Tongzhou, the Huguo Army of Hezhong, the Baoyi Army of Shanzhou, and every other military governor's territory the delegation passed through, each garrison sent yabing guards to escort them.

By the time they reached Luoyang, the entire delegation had grown to more than three thousand people.

This vast and sacred capital, which had just suffered the rebellion of Zhang Congbin and was now overgrown with green wilderness, stirred to life once more today.

Besides the Guiyi Army's delegation of the eighteen prefectures, heroes and scholars from all over, families who had once lost members in Anxi and Hexi, and even descendants of the old Anxi field-army relief troops all came.

Song Tongyi, together with these Central Plains heroes moved by loyalty and righteousness, outside the Purple Myrtle Palace in Luoyang, in the morning made offerings to Emperor Gaozong, the Heavenly August Emperor Li Zhi, and Empress Wu Zetian, the Sagely Heavenly Empress, and in the afternoon made offerings to the Later Tang's Zhuangzong and Mingzong.

In the sixth month, after more than three months of travel, the Guiyi Army's delegation of the eighteen prefectures of Hexi and Longyou finally arrived at the Later Jin capital, the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture.

Those who had come along with the Guiyi Army numbered over three thousand, and together with the Guiyi Army delegation itself, the total reached a full four thousand.

Ever since the end of the Tang and through the Five Dynasties, the realm had been in turmoil, with everyone warring against one another; warriors had lost all glory, scholars had been utterly humiliated, and neither gentry nor commoners were at ease, every man fearing for his own life.

Thus there had never been a moment like this, in this age, that made people feel so filled with great righteousness and glory.

Waves of clamor came from Chaoyang Gate to the east; it turned out that descendants of the former Hexi Military Governor Yang Xiuming, having heard that the Hexi and Longyou delegation had reached Luoyang, had made a special journey to come.

Yang Xiuming came from a branch of the Hongnong Yang clan; everyone had thought these great families had long since vanished, and no one expected there were still descendants.

After a while, another dozen or so riders came sweeping in like a whirlwind; it turned out to be descendants of the Yan family of Taiyuan in Hedong.

The Taiyuan Yan family endured all the way into the Republican era; the Yan clan of Wenning in Shanxi and the Yan surname of Liangguang both branched off from here.

The final climax came when more than ten silver-saber officers in brocade robes escorted a gaunt man into the Eastern Capital.

"Isn't that Guo Shaoqing?" someone recognized the newcomer.

Shaoqing was not a name but an office; this man was the fifth-generation descendant of Guo Ziyi, Prince of Fenyang of the Great Tang, the grandnephew of Guo Xin, the last Military Governor of the Four Garrisons of Anxi and Prince of Wuwei Commandery, and the former Chamberlain for Ceremonials of the Later Tang, Guo Zaihui.

After the Last Emperor entered Luoyang, he had moved to Jinling, and his sons and nephews all held office in the Tang state of Huainan; now he had actually come from the Tang state.

As if by prior agreement, the two sides met outside the Daning Palace.

Guo Tiance, descendant of Prince of Wuwei Commandery Guo Xin and Secretary to the Grand Commissioner of Hexi and Longyou, called out "Granduncle" in a trembling voice, then handed over the spirit tablet of Guo Xin, which the Guo family of Suyab had preserved all along, to Guo Zaihui.

"One hundred and thirty years! Granduncle's spirit tablet has finally returned here. The Guo family's ancestral shrine has already been moved by me to Magang in Luling. Once Granduncle arrives there, he and Prince Zhongwu will surely have endless words to share!"

Guo Zaihui wept softly a few times, then handed over to Guo Tiance another spirit tablet, carved with the words "Spirit tablet of Lord Guo Xin, Military Governor of the Four Garrisons of Anxi of the Great Tang and Prince of Wuwei Commandery."

"This is Granduncle's spirit tablet from the ancestral shrine. Today I entrust it to you, Tiance!"

Guo Tiance knelt on both knees to receive the spirit tablet, and said with pride on his face: "Nine thousand nine hundred li from here, in Suyab in Anxi, the Guo family still keeps its incense burning. They still remember the old homeland.

When the realm is unified and all within the four seas are one, your nephew will surely escort this spirit tablet to Suyab, and to Kucha, so that our ancestor's spirit in heaven may also be comforted."

Hearing this, Guo Zaihui wept and bowed three times toward the west, did not so much as glance at Shi Jingtang atop the Daning Palace wall, and then, escorted by a dozen riders, departed in haste.

Atop the Daning Palace wall, Shi Jingtang felt as if struck by lightning. He staggered back several steps, and on his face there slowly appeared a few traces of shame, which were then replaced by a deathly pallor.

He understood now: this return of the eighteen prefectures of Hexi and Longyou concerned everyone.

Zhang Zhao of Hexi had become famous throughout the realm in one stroke; the perseverance of the soldiers of Anxi, Hexi, and Longyou was admired by all under heaven; and the delegation of the eighteen prefectures would enjoy the courtesy of the entire world.

The descendants of the former commanders of the Anxi and Hexi armies — the surviving Hongnong Yang clan, the Taiyuan Yan clan, the Taiyuan Guo clan, and the surviving descendants of the Anxi field-army troops, along with the yabing guards sent by the military governors of every garrison along the way — all shared in the honor.

Only he, Shi Jingtang, would likely gain little glory from it!

The child-emperor stood dazed atop the Daning Palace. If he had not sold away the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun — no! If he had not, just a few months ago, formally issued the edict ceding the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun, then the one enjoying this glory right now would be him.

Just look at the enormous momentum created by the delegation of the eighteen prefectures, that sentiment that made everyone feel a share in the honor.

If he had not sold away the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun, if he had not called Yelu Deguang his father, then today he, Shi Jingtang, could have used this great righteousness to rally men's hearts, suppress the military provinces within, overawe the Tang and Shu without, drive the Khitan from the north, and become an emperor for the ages.

He also understood now: while he had still been scheming over petty royal titles, Zhang Zhao had long since cut off his path to survival from the very highest point.

It was all too late! The supreme great righteousness, placed in the hands of a man who had already destroyed great righteousness utterly, was no longer a credit but an enormous debit.

He simply could not grasp it, and the people of the realm would only despise him all the more for it.

At that moment, right beside Shi Jingtang, the old fox Feng Dao's eyes shone with an excitement that should not have existed in him.

Jing Yanguang, who deeply hated Shi Jingtang for serving the Khitan as a son serves a father, sighed again and again.

Lu Dao, Liu Tao, Xue Juzheng, and the whole host of civil officials wore entranced expressions; Liu Zhiyuan's chest heaved violently; Yang Guangyuan even stared straight at Shi Jingtang, wishing that the man standing there were himself.

Everyone — except Sang Weihan, who was deeply bound to Shi Jingtang and notorious for it — felt the lament that the Guiyi Army was a bright pearl covered in dust, and that Shi Jingtang did not look like a true sovereign!

For a time, men's hearts were stirred and restless.

The Yellow River brings a hundred harms and enriches only one bend, and the Lingzhou, Lingwu, and Huaiyuan regions where the Shuofang Military Governor was based were the richest bend of the front and rear bends.

Here the water and grass were lush, with ten thousand qing of fine farmland, the convenience of Yellow River water transport, and the Yellow River channel as a natural moat; it could be farmed and grazed, backed against the Central Plains and facing the great desert.

Here, apart from Shuofang, all around was arid and bitterly cold land; only Shuofang was a Jiangnan beyond the frontier. It was the Central Plains dynasties' first front line and best base for resisting the steppe peoples.

Whenever a Central Plains dynasty held the Hetao region, it could easily gain an enormous advantage over the steppe peoples.

This was the Han people's finest bridgehead and supply point in the northwest: when strong, they could march out from Shuofang to campaign in all directions; when weak, they could hold it as a fortress.

At this time, the Lingwu Military Governor was Zhang Xichong, a man of Youzhou, and in the late Tang and Five Dynasties, he too was an extremely unusual figure.

In his early years he had been captured by the Khitan, and the Khitan ruler appointed him Military Governor of Pingzhou, but in secret he modeled himself on Ban Chao and Su Wu, taking pride in being a Han.

In the time of Tang Mingzong Li Siyuan, Zhang Xichong plotted for many years, using the story of Ban Chao to inspire his subordinates; he rose in arms, struck down the Khitan troops, and returned to the Tang with twenty thousand Han people of Pingzhou — to call him a hero would be no exaggeration at all.

After returning to the interior, Zhang Xichong served his mother with utmost filial piety; though he was a military governor of a garrison, when he was posted to Ruzhou and brought his mother over to care for her, he personally carried her sedan chair for more than thirty li.

In his post as Lingwu Military Governor, Zhang Xichong drilled his troops to a fine edge, was incorruptible in public service, opened military farms to sustain the garrison, and brought in a great harvest, sparing his soldiers the hardship of transporting supplies.

The Lingwu army, whose discipline had once been rotten, was completely transformed under his governance; several times the Khitan, who had wanted to seize Lingwu before Shi Jingtang entered the Central Plains, dared not make a move for fear of his reputation.

When Pei Yuan first arrived in Lingwu, his mood was bitter; had his family not been detained by Shi Jingtang, he would have abandoned his post and fled to Hexi.

But after half a year here, Pei Yuan was deeply won over by Zhang Xichong, and he also came to see clearly the complex situation Lingwu faced.

Since the end of the Tang, the Han people had been migrating away from this place for over a hundred years; barbarians filled the land, knew nothing of culture or education, and did not even identify with the Central Plains dynasties.

And to the north and south of Lingzhou, Khitan cavalry roamed to the north, luring the people of Lingwu to submit.

To the southeast, the Tangut Li family of the Dingnan Army watched Lingwu with hungry eyes, constantly sending Tangut clans to infiltrate Lingzhou, scheming to swallow it whole.

Pei Yuan was alarmed to discover that in Shuofang, a vital frontier defense region of the state, the Han population numbered fewer than two thousand households, while the barbarians outnumbered them ten to one.

Once a change occurs here — whether the Khitan seize it or the Tangut take it — for a Central Plains dynasty that has already lost the Yan Mountains and the Yin Mountains, the northwest will never know peace again.

At this very moment, an old man and a young man, deeply worried for the fate of Shuofang (Lingwu), for the fate of the Central Plains court, and for the fate of all Han people under heaven, stood withered upon the walls of Lingwu, gazing down at the Yellow River below and the great desert in the distance, long silent.

The situation in Lingwu has deteriorated beyond hope of reversal. The Han people are leaving in great numbers, and even Zhang Xichong has only the ability to keep up appearances.

For when the water source has dried up, what use is it even if you dig a hundred wells?

As for Zhang Zhao, Pei Yuan had considered him — but then Pei Yuan shook his head. Though Zhang Zhao possessed great talent and bold vision, Hexi had long been barbarized, and to set it right would already be a task of immense difficulty.

With the Guiyi Army's few thousand troops, within three to five years they would have no capacity at all to look after Lingwu as well.

"Yuying! The life of this place is already spent. I am frail, grown old in a frontier city — my lot is inescapable! Go back and resign your post. Do not be like me, dying in a dead land!"

After a long while, Zhang Xichong took Pei Yuan by the hand, and the two walked arm in arm back into the city of Lingwu.

Pei Yuan raised his head to the sky and let out a grief-stricken cry, his expression struggling for a moment, then he shook his head.

"If I had never come to Lingwu, I could have pretended I had not seen it. But having come to Lingwu, seeing this land shattered and calamity drawing near, how can I watch with open eyes as Lingwu falls?"

Zhang Xichong smiled, moved, and then the corners of his mouth filled with bitterness. "Another man who cannot escape his own heart. If one could be like the Son of Heaven in the Eastern Capital, how would there be any troubles?"

Pei Yuan was startled, and then the two of them burst into loud laughter together, facing south — laughter that held merciless mockery of Shi Jingtang.

At that moment, camel bells sounded in the distance. It was a caravan approaching. Pei Yuan stood on tiptoe to look, and his expression unconsciously shifted.

Anyone able to haul goods with those two-humped camels was certain to have some connection to Zhang Zhao.

For ever since the whirlwind catapults appeared in Hexi, these two-humped camels capable of bearing them had become military-controlled livestock, unobtainable by ordinary merchants.

Sure enough, when he looked down toward the city gate, the burly man leading the caravan entering the city had the look of a Sogdian, yet his Chinese was extremely fluent.

Moreover, he had an accent that Pei Yuan found vaguely familiar — a very proper, standard accent, strange in that once heard it was hard to forget.

In the sunlight, the burly Sogdian entering the barbican had purple-black hair that gleamed brightly. It was none other than one of Zhang Zhao's adopted sons, son-in-law of Kang Jinshan of the Hexi Sogdian Merchant Guild, and a fierce general of the Guiyi Army — Zhang Liecheng.

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