Chapter 362: The Grand Wedding

In Lingzhou, at the seat of the Lingwu Military Governor, Zhang Xichong — a man who had always prized simplicity, loved poetry and books, disliked wine and music, and kept no concubines or servants — broke all precedent by laying out a thousand jars of fine wine and countless fat sheep and fresh fish in his official residence.

Countless Lingwu Army officers drank until their faces were flushed and ate until their mouths shone with grease, only none of them understood why their Military Governor was so happy today.

Zhang Liecheng came forward bearing a bowl of grape wine, only to find Zhang Xichong and Pei Yuan sitting facing each other, surrounded by several civil officials and clerks keeping them company, merely tapping their chopsticks against bowls and singing in accompaniment — a sharp contrast to the officers outside drinking and carousing without restraint.

Zhang Liecheng suddenly understood why this Military Governor Zhang, for all his strict discipline that had transformed the Lingwu Army within a few years, and for all his military farms that improved the people's livelihood, could neither bind the Lingwu Army into a single rope nor halt Lingwu's decline.

Because this Military Governor, his own clansman, was too out of step with the times.

Had this man lived in the Han, he would have been a governor of Yunzhong like Wei Shang, or a governor of Yanmen like Zhi Du.

Had he lived in the Tang, he would have been a weighty minister like Pei Xingjian, one who went out as a general and returned as a chancellor.

But alas, this is a chaotic age where one performer leaves the stage and the next takes it; the old ideal of the general-chancellor bearing a touch of aristocratic pride is no longer in fashion.

Even for Zhang Liecheng himself, compared with Zhang Xichong, he preferred his adoptive father Zhang Zhao — an "all-round talent" who could compose poetry with scholars and trade punches with soldiers.

Zhang Xichong saw Zhang Liecheng approaching with a wine bowl, but raised a hand to signal that he should hold off on the toast; instead he tapped the rim of his wine bowl a few times with a clink-clink, and only then spoke.

"I grew up in Youzhou. In my youth I failed to recognize a worthy lord and mistakenly threw in my lot with Liu Shouguang of the Jie Yan. Fortunately I found my way back in time: in the second year of Tiancheng (927), I killed Khitan officers and men and returned south with twenty thousand people. Ten years have passed since then!"

Zhang Liecheng did not know why Zhang Xichong was saying this, but he still smiled and praised him.

"Your Excellency's return south is like Su Wu of the Former Han or Ban Dingyuan of the Later Han — your loyalty, righteousness, courage, and strategy are known to all under heaven! Though I was born in Anxi, I am a son of Tang, and I salute Your Excellency!"

Zhang Xichong drank a bowl with Zhang Liecheng, but would not let him leave; instead he had him sit down beside him, then continued.

"After I returned south, I served as Military Governor of various prefectures in succession. Though I achieved no great merit, I have toiled hard.

My lifelong wish was to dwell in the heights of the court and emulate Du Gongbu's aspiration of making the sovereign a Yao or a Shun, but Heaven has not granted my wish, and now I shall grow old and die in this frontier wasteland."

As he spoke, the dignified Lingwu Military Governor's eyes actually filled with tears, and his tone turned mournful. "When I returned south in those days, it was because I refused to be a slave of the Khitan, because I could not bear to see the robes and caps of our Hua-Xia civilization lost to the barbarians.

But that Shi Jingtang actually sold out his country for glory and gave my homeland to the Khitan slave-thieves. I, Zhang Xichong, after ten years of effort, after risking my life to return south — am I to become a Khitan subject after all?

Betrayed by my own sovereign, with grievances I cannot air and vengeance I cannot take — what difference is there between me and a dead man?"

No sooner had Zhang Xichong finished speaking than the civil officials and clerks he had gathered around him were so frightened they prostrated themselves on the ground. But Pei Yuan looked thoughtful, and Zhang Liecheng was startled and uncertain.

If Zhang Liecheng and Pei Yuan knew the course of history the way Zhang Zhao did, they would have known that Zhang Xichong would die of depression the following year.

He was the most ill-fated and most stifled man of the entire Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

A hero who refused to be a Khitan slave, who could cast aside even the office of Military Governor of a whole province and lead twenty thousand people back south — betrayed in his old age by the very sovereign he had served.

His homeland of Youzhou had fallen entirely into Khitan hands. At this very moment, all of Zhang Xichong's efforts and glory had been utterly destroyed by Shi Jingtang.

Inside the tent, voices wept in grief; outside the tent, the Lingwu Army officers gorged and swilled — and no one even noticed the change inside. The complete rift between the upper and lower ranks of the Lingwu Military Governor's command could not have been more stark.

"Pei Yuying! I ask you: what sort of man is that King of Han in Hexi?" Zhang Xichong suddenly rose to his feet and demanded.

Pei Yuan was stunned for a brief moment, then suddenly broke into a smile and declared loudly: "The King of Han is the descendant of loyal and righteous men, heroic in bearing and brilliant in spirit. Above, he can unite the will of his officers; below, he can win the hearts of the common people. He is truly my lord!"

"And I ask you! What great ambition does the King of Han hold?" Having finished with Pei Yuan, Zhang Xichong whirled around and demanded of Zhang Liecheng.

Zhang Liecheng's heart was shaken, but his outward composure was flawless. He gave a slight bow with clasped hands and answered with perfect calm.

"Though I come from Hexi, the King of Han is a star descended from heaven, and I have never had the honor of meeting him. I have only seen that in Hexi governance is smooth and the people harmonious, that high and low observe proper order, that the rich and powerful need not fear the extermination of their households, and that the common folk suffer no violence of war. It is a paradise amid the chaos."

"Ha ha ha!" Zhang Xichong laughed three times. "Not a bad answer — but do not try to deceive me!

The two-humped camels you brought when you entered the city — Hexi began secretly controlling those long ago, even numbering and recording them.

If you were not a trusted man of the King of Han in Hexi, how could a mere peddler selling white sugar for the Sogdian merchant guilds possess more than ten two-humped camels? Out with it, and quickly!"

Zhang Liecheng ground his back teeth. Though he had trained at Zhang Zhao's side for years, he was still somewhat young.

He had just now been unable to resist glancing at Pei Yuan a few times, and it was precisely those glances that confirmed what Zhang Xichong, already somewhat suspicious, had nearly concluded.

At that thought, Zhang Liecheng stopped pretending. He straightened his slightly stooped back, rose to his feet, and answered Zhang Xichong with pride on his face.

"The King of Han wishes to lead the heroes of all under heaven and mend the heavens that have cracked since the Kaiyuan era!"

"A fine 'mending the heavens with one hand'! Only a hero could utter such words."

Zhang Xichong was clearly shaken too. He stood stunned for a long moment before saying: "Go back and report to the King of Han. Tell him that I, Zhang Defeng of Youzhou, request a meeting with the King of Han!"

At this moment, the King of Han whom Zhang Xichong spoke of was in the city of Dunhuang, drunk again and again, for today was the day of Great King Zhang's grand wedding.

She who had been promised to him since the age of twelve, who had waited a full seven years, and who at nineteen was nearly becoming an old maid — Cao Sanniang, Cao Yanxi.

At last she had the chance to put on the blue-green ceremonial robe with flowered hairpins and wide sleeves, layer upon layer of draped silk, and all manner of gold and silver hairpins and ornaments, and marry Zhang Zhao.

This extraordinarily grand wedding — even Shi Jingtang, whom Zhang Zhao had left covered in dust and disgrace, sent officials from the Ministry of Rites to offer congratulations in person.

Within the Guiyi Army, apart from Zhang Liecheng, who had to go to Lingwu, and Pei Yuan, who could not return, even Murong Xinzhang came back, bringing his wife, Princess Yongle.

Zhang Zhao's legal mother, the Fengtian Princess of Khotan, and Li Congde, Crown Prince of the Golden Kingdom of Khotan, along with dozens of Khotanese officials great and small bearing congratulations, arrived with gifts worth more than a hundred thousand strings of cash.

From far-off Suyab came the Governor-General of the Suyab Governorate, the Prudent and Greatly Virtuous Guo Xuanli, and the Deputy Governor of Talas, Li Guoshou.

The Samanid Persian Emir Hamid, the ruler of the Anyuan Kingdom in Huwen City (Kabul), Sadid, and the Governor of Kunduz, Rashid Salman, all sent envoys ahead to offer congratulations.

The Military Governors of every province under heaven — whether elders like Kang Fu or newly risen favorites like Yang Guangyuan and Liu Zhiyuan — all sent trusted men bearing congratulatory gifts.

Meng Chang of the Later Shu, who had just succeeded to the throne, had made contact with Zhang Zhao, and still harbored ambitions in his heart, also sent a secret envoy.

This King of Shu's generosity could be called lavish: five thousand bolts of colored silk outright, in exchange for hoping Zhang Zhao would coordinate with him in seizing Fengxiang Prefecture and entering Guanzhong.

He promised that once the deed was done, he would reward Zhang Zhao with the territories of the two Military Governors of Binning and Jingyuan.

This is a typical result of the slow transmission of information in this age.

Zhang Zhao had stirred up enormous momentum in Guanzhong and the Central Plains, but Meng Chang, far off on the Chengdu plain, still regarded him as nothing more than a minor northwestern warlord like Zhang Gui of the Former Liang or Lu Guang of the Later Liang in years past.

In truth, however, Meng Chang's view was not entirely wrong — especially regarding Lu Guang, who was very similar to Zhang Zhao: both had managed the Western Regions and then returned at the head of a great army.

Moreover, before Lu Guang went to the Western Regions, he was already a great figure renowned throughout the land — his fame was far greater than Zhang Zhao's.

Meng Chang thought of Zhang Zhao as a Lu Guang, and in his heart actually felt he was flattering him by the comparison.

Of course, no matter what Meng Chang thought, how could one possibly push away a lavish gift delivered to one's door?

So Zhang Zhao, without the slightest politeness, smilingly accepted Meng Chang's five thousand bolts of colored silk. As for the matter of jointly attacking Guanzhong, he kept it at arm's length — neither agreeing nor refusing.

String Meng Chang along a little; if he could squeeze a few thousand more bolts of colored silk out of Shu, that would be quite nice too!

Even if Meng Chang has no intention of paying, Shu is still a major sales region for Hexi rock sugar, white sugar, and spices. With a big client like that, there's every reason to keep them sweet.

In any case, Meng Chang is a man of grand talk — adequate at preserving what he has, passable at governing, but when it comes to expansion, especially the use of troops, he's utterly hopeless and not worth fearing.

At the same time, the wedding of the King of Han, Zhang Zhao, was also quite interesting. Others bow to both parents; he bowed to two mothers. Regarding his legal mother, Princess Fengtian, Zhang Zhao's earlier handling had also been somewhat mistaken.

It was the Song and Ming dynasties — especially the somewhat conservative atmosphere of the Ming — that had influenced Zhang Zhao's judgment of the Tang.

In the eyes of people of this era, if he wanted to unify the realm, taking a Scythian as his empress truly did seem unacceptable.

But having a Scythian legal mother — one who had helped him greatly — was nothing at all.

Moreover, by the ethics of legitimate and secondary status in this era, Princess Fengtian should hold higher standing than his birth mother, Lady Song.

So when bowing to the parents, Princess Fengtian occupied the left, the higher position, while Lady Song occupied the right. There was no father present at the bowing, but there were two mothers.

That night! In the glow of several red candles, the delicate Nineteenth Maiden took a flying leap and landed on Zhang Zhao's back, bursting into wild laughter.

Zhang Zhao, already somewhat drunk, was caught off guard and staggered before steadying himself, then grabbed the slender Nineteenth Maiden and held her in his hands.

"Can't a young lady show a little restraint? This makes me feel rather like prey!" Zhang Zhao said with a laugh, looking at the girl now held in his arms.

Nineteenth Maiden did not have Third Maiden's baby-plump oval face; hers was a proper melon-seed face, and her eyes were not round and adorable but long and narrow phoenix eyes. Paired with a face full of mischievous grins, she looked very much like a sly little sprite.

The little sprite wrapped her legs around him and hung directly onto Zhang Zhao.

"Restraint? Am I not restrained enough? From age twelve until now, I've been restrained for seven years!

Zhang Erlang, hero of the realm — today you finally belong to me!"

As she spoke, the girl's pink little tongue curled, and with a flushed face she began undoing Zhang Zhao's collar. "Li Qiniang said your body feels wonderful to touch! Hurry, hurry, let's not waste time!"

Zhang Zhao was at once amused and exasperated. These women — they really said anything!

"What's the rush? From now on we are husband and wife, with decades of days ahead of us."

"Hmph!" Seventeenth Maiden's delicate nose wrinkled. "How can I not rush? Before I've even entered the household, my young lord already has six consorts, and who knows how many more there will be in the future.

The realm is in troubled times now. Once the Great King leaves, who knows when he'll return. If I don't hurry now, that won't do!"

Zhang Zhao thought it over and agreed. The Caos — Cao Yanmian — and Ayiguli and the others had all come, and he was now the King of Han who had unified Hexi and Longyou. How much time did he have to stay at home? Indeed, they needed to hurry a little.

So he gave her a light toss and called in Li Xiuyun, who had been eavesdropping outside all along, to help strip the bride, dressed in her elaborate ceremonial robes, completely bare.

Amid the sounds of playful laughter, the red candles were suddenly blown out.

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