Chapter 364: Hexi, the Land of Our Ancestors

Inside the Pass, at Feng'an Garrison, this place sits on the banks of the Yellow River, with extremely convenient transport.

Because the Yellow River flows through it, there is no shortage of irrigation water, and with abundant groundwater as well, it is the most important fruit, melon, and grain producing area in the territory of the Shuofang Military Governor apart from the Lingzhou region.

Before Zhang Xichong arrived, part of the grain and fodder supply for the Lingwu Army at Lingzhou had been transferred through Feng'an Garrison.

Before the Kaiyuan era, Feng'an Garrison had been a key military town, with a full troop strength of eight thousand men.

But by this time, after several centuries of warfare in the Central Plains, national strength and registered households had fallen sharply, and Feng'an Garrison had even been abandoned for a time.

It was only during the reign of Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang, after court finances had improved somewhat, that it was restored. At present it has a garrison of a little over three hundred, and in the surrounding area there are several thousand Tangut herders.

When Zhang Zhao arrived, a garrison commander of Feng'an had long been waiting on his knees outside the fort.

Although Feng'an Garrison is not under Hexi's jurisdiction, this was not at all surprising, because the good days Feng'an Garrison had enjoyed in recent years had all been brought by Zhang Zhao.

In the year since Zhang Zhao took charge of Hexi and Longyou, the situation across all of Hexi and Longyou had undergone earth-shaking changes.

Even before the Kaiyuan era of the Great Tang, it would have been hard to find a Hexi-Longyou Grand Military Governor who could compare with Zhang Zhao.

This year Zhang Zhao had not paused for a moment, and his footprints had covered nearly all the major regions of Hexi.

He built waterworks, encouraged agriculture and sericulture, lightened corvée and taxes, and struck down lawlessness, bringing stability to Hexi society, so that along the main post roads one could leave one's door open at night.

The original conflict between people and land in Hexi had also been greatly alleviated under Zhang Zhao's hand.

Because the conflict between people and land in Hexi appeared to be that great clans and great tribes had seized vast amounts of land and crushed the poor common people like oxen and horses, making the contradiction of many people and little land very acute.

But in fact, one only had to understand a set of figures to know that this was complete nonsense.

Zhang Zhao's territory at this time was roughly equivalent to ninety-five percent of later Gansu, plus eastern Qinghai including Xining, and small parts of Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, and Shaanxi.

One should know that the area of Gansu alone in later times was 425,000 square kilometers; adding the other regions, Zhang Zhao controlled at least 500,000 square kilometers.

That is almost an area equal to a France. Even though much of it has harsh natural conditions, it was more than enough to support a little over two million people.

The reason for the appearance of many people and little land was that Hexi society had previously been unstable.

Han Chinese, the various Wenmo groups, the Long family, Uyghurs, the various Qiang, the the the Shatuo, Tanguts, and even other strange tribes great and small attacked one another, and for a long time people lived in a situation where if you did not kill others, others would kill you.

In such chaotic conditions, an ordinary person who left his clan or tribe was doomed to perish; even a small tribe of one or two hundred people was not safe, so people were forced to band together and survive in groups.

Once people clustered together, naturally there were many people and little land, and the great clans and great surname tribes seized the opportunity to annex land and control population.

But as soon as Zhang Zhao arrived, the situation immediately changed.

He did not even need to force the local strongmen to hand over the land and people they had seized; he only needed to maintain public order, and then everywhere, following the old method used in Liangzhou, use money to smash through infrastructure projects.

At first he had the local strongmen contribute a little manpower and put on a small show; once the laborers who had received real benefits went back and spread the word, the poor people of the whole tribe could not be stopped, and their enthusiasm for serving official corvée labor was extremely high.

Once the corvée labor was finished, they found that conditions outside had improved, and they had happened to earn a little wages during the labor.

So they either did some work along the Silk Road, or leased land opened up by the government, or even cleared wasteland themselves in groups of a hundred or so.

Once the people left, the land the strongmen held in their hands instantly began to lose value, and most of the clever ones chose to compromise with the government.

As for the foolish ones, there was a shortage of mine slaves in the Jingtie Mountains!

For example, the Hezhou strongmen, who were the only ones to submit without experiencing much warfare, made an example of themselves by testing the law: they detained and concealed large numbers of people and gathered mobs to resist.

Zhang Zhao, who had been looking for a chicken to scare the monkeys, gleefully dispatched troops to suppress them, and besieged Shimen Mountain, where the Hezhou strongmen were entrenched, for half a month.

In the end, more than two thousand were killed or executed, and over ten thousand became mine slaves. Instantly, people everywhere became obedient.

In one year, under Zhang Zhao's direction, Hexi and Longyou opened up nearly three hundred thousand mu of wasteland and newly built over a hundred waterworks.

In particular, the development of four places — Guangwu in Lanzhou, Lintao, Minqin in Liangzhou, and Longxi in Weizhou — attracted more than two hundred thousand people down from the mountains to settle.

Two Yellow River carp: the smaller one made into carp with baked noodles, the larger one roasted with spices such as dried zhuyu, wild onion, and fragrant leaves.

A roast lamb, several seasonal vegetables, a few fruits, and a large jar of chilled purple wine — this was the fare Zhang Zhao used to entertain his guest.

A sound of hoofbeats rang out. Zhang Zhao did not even raise his head before Li Cunhui led over a hundred cavalry over. Before long, two figures appeared before Zhang Zhao's eyes.

Pei Yuan was even thinner than before. The fine white skin of an aristocratic scion had turned a yellow-black like old ginger, almost indistinguishable from an old Shuofang farmer.

Although those eyes still could not help but make one wary, in terms of bearing, Pei Yuan had undergone an earth-shaking change.

From the former feeling of someone of considerable learning and wisdom who nevertheless always seemed to float above the ground, he had become steady and down-to-earth.

Zhang Zhao could see that Pei Yuan was transforming from a Ma Su who could only serve as an advisor into a capable minister who could govern the world.

"Yuying! Come quickly! It has been over a year since we last met. Come taste whether my cooking has improved?"

Zhang Zhao laughed heartily as he tossed aside the boar-bristle brush he had been using to brush zhuyu oil onto the roasting fish, and strode quickly toward Pei Yuan.

"Your servant! Pays respects to the Great King!" Pei Yuan, still a dozen or so steps away, threw himself down with a thud onto the sandy shore of the Yellow River.

"Your servant, in the Eastern Capital, acted on his own authority, and was then coerced into going to Lingzhou. I have failed the Great King's trust, and truly have no face to see you!"

From Pei Yuan's standpoint, he did indeed feel ashamed before Zhang Zhao.

Although he had facilitated Zhang Zhao's brilliant entry into Guanzhong to quell the rebellion, and had smoothly obtained the post of Hexi-Longyou Grand Military Governor, allowing Zhang Zhao to make a name for himself on the stage of the whole realm,

in actual practice, he had taken it upon himself to guarantee one million strings of cash in military expenses for Shi Jingtang, and had in fact left Zhang Zhao to go to Shuofang.

Whatever the reasons, the charges of acting on his own authority and of abandoning his post and not returning could not be escaped.

Seeing Pei Yuan behave this way, Zhang Zhao hurried forward a few steps and quickly helped Pei Yuan to his feet.

"Yuying has rendered me great service, making the brave men of Hexi and Longyou famous throughout the realm. How can you say you have no face to see me? The situation was complex, the circumstances urgent; to act according to the moment is the natural principle."

Only after helping Pei Yuan up did Zhang Zhao look at the old man beside Pei Yuan, dressed in a moon-white lan robe with a simple putou on his head.

The man was tall and slender, with sharp eyes and elegant bearing, very much in the manner of a renowned minister, but between his brows there was always an air of melancholy.

"Could this be Military Governor Zhang of Lingwu, the Grand Commandant, before me?" Zhang Zhao cupped his hands and asked. This should be Zhang Xichong.

"I have long heard that the King of Han in Hexi honors the worthy and treats scholars with courtesy, valuing talent over wealth. The reputation is well deserved!"

Zhang Zhao had not first come to ask after Zhang Xichong, but had instead attended to Pei Yuan first. This somewhat discourteous behavior actually made Zhang Xichong all the more satisfied.

This Pei Yuan had taken an enormous fall on Zhang Zhao's behalf, and his wife, children, and elderly parents were still being held by Shi Jingtang in the Eastern Capital. If Zhang Zhao had first come to ask after Zhang Xichong, given this man's temperament, he might well have turned and left.

The three took their seats. Zhang Zhao sent everyone far away, leaving only Murong Xinzhang and Li Cunhui as guards.

Zhang Xichong watched as Zhang Zhao served the two men food and poured wine. Murong Xinzhang, a little farther off, turned the iron frame, roasting a fat lamb to a golden brown, while Li Cunhui carefully used a dagger to chip ice into fine ice flowers. The melancholy between his brows seemed to ease somewhat.

"The man cutting ice beside you — is that the flying general who killed a hundred men single-handed at Shandan?" Zhang Xichong asked, looking at Li Cunhui.

Li Cunhui now had a battle that made his name too — the affair at Shandan the year before, when he alone had guarded Zhang Zhao and, single rider against many, struck down several dozen Uyghur horsemen.

"Cunhui, the Military Governor is asking you." Zhang Zhao called out to Li Cunhui with a smile.

Li Cunhui smiled bashfully. "It was only forty-odd Uyghur light cavalry. A single rider killing a hundred men — that's just rumor piled on rumor!"

"Good!" Zhang Xichong clapped his hands in high praise. "Young and accomplished, yet not carried away by success. This young general will one day be a hero like the Duke of Xing!"

"Grand Commandant Zhang, won't you praise me too? If you favor one over the other, you won't get any of this fat lamb roasted by the Princess Yongle's own consort!"

Murong Xinzhang had grown a small mustache. He was no longer as sharp-edged as before, but he was just as competitive.

"Ha ha ha!" Zhang Xichong laughed all the harder.

"You rascal! Years ago, when this old man returned south, Princess Yongle herself offered me a bowl of wine at the banquet. So intelligent, so courteous, so well-versed in poetry and letters — I remember it to this day. Never thought she'd end up with the likes of you!"

Yet though the laughter was hearty, Murong Xinzhang, clearly more famous than Li Cunhui, still received no praise from Zhang Xichong. The older man simply laughed it off with the air of an elder.

Roast lamb layered with flavor, paired with roast fish, melons, seasonal vegetables, and chilled grape wine — the five of them dined to their hearts' content by the Yellow River, enjoying the scenery.

With such fine views and fine food, no one spoke of serious matters. They waited until all had eaten and drunk their fill and were slightly tipsy with wine.

Only then did Zhang Zhao, gazing at the great river before him, the green fields, and the yellow sands and high mountains in the distance, speak with deep feeling.

"Such a fine land of rivers and mountains! All of it won by our ancestors through a hundred battles. The Former Qin broke the Yiqu to first gain this land; the Former Han's Wei and Huo fought all their lives in blood to hold it firm.

Over a thousand years, who knows how many heroes and bold spirits, how many common folk, toiled and bled to open this land. If we lose it in our own day, we are all sinners!"

"Does the Prince of Han truly think so? I had thought no one left under heaven remembered such things anymore.

One after another they sell out their country for glory, and for wealth and rank there is no shameless thing they will not do!

Shuofang is the cornerstone of the state. The Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun are already gone. If Shuofang goes too, sooner or later the whole realm will topple!"

Zhang Xichong's face was heavy with grief. Zhang Zhao nodded with deep agreement. No one understood better than he what it would mean if both Shuofang and Yan-Yun were lost.

Without Yan-Yun, the cavalry of the steppe peoples could appear on the Hebei plain at will — come when they pleased, go when they pleased.

More importantly, the land of Yan-Yun and western Liao had been sinicized for a thousand years. In farming, ironworking, and every art of production, they were no different from the Central Plains.

Once the nomads held these two regions, they would no longer be a mere steppe empire, but a terrifying war machine uniting steppe and farmland. The purely agrarian Han lands could never withstand them again.

And if Shuofang were lost, the natural defenses of Guanzhong would become empty words.

A Western Xia, rotten from the root, was enough to make the Northern Song miserable. Every year it poured more coin and grain into Shaanxi than into Hebei — a wound that never healed.

Had there been no Western Xia, the Northern Song could have crushed the Liao with money alone!

People say that after the Tianbao reign, the character of the Chinese people was changed. That is not without reason.

For once these two lands were lost, the realm was trapped in the humiliating position of forever taking blows and never being able to strike back.

Beaten at will, year after year, beaten so often the skin grows thick — you have your wolf-tooth club, I have my skull. How could that not change a people's character?

Had Zhu Hongwu not appeared four hundred years later to recover Yan-Yun and retake Heshuo, the sinking of Chinese civilization would be hard to imagine.

At this thought, Zhang Zhao looked directly at Zhang Xichong — this hero in his twilight years who had risked his life to return south.

"An old warhorse in the stable still longs to gallop a thousand li; a hero in his last years still keeps a dauntless heart. Old Master Zhang, will you join me in patching this hole in the sky that is Heshuo?"

All chapters cached for you. Download the APP to view.