Chapter 384: Who Can Hold Yunzhong

Fuzhou, known in later times as Fugu County, lies beside the Yellow River, backed by northern Shaanxi and facing the great desert — the meeting point of the Loess Plateau and the Mongolian Plateau.

The complex terrain gives Fuzhou's rugged region a distinctive landscape: at a glance it looks flat, yet traveling through it takes far longer than it seems. It is called a plateau, but in truth it is mountain country.

Any journey means climbing hills and descending slopes, and in many places the only passable routes are certain mountain passes and gorges.

But there is an advantage too: Fuzhou has thus become a natural barrier guarding against steppe peoples pushing south.

During the Northern Song, the Khitan tried several times to break through southward from here and never could; the Western Xia also hoped to swallow Linzhou and Fuzhou to threaten Jinyang, but the Zhe family of Fugu turned them back every time.

Of course, geography alone was not enough — it had to be paired with the hardships the land imposed.

Linzhou and Fuzhou had many mountains and little flatland, making survival hard. But precisely because survival was hard, the people grew tough and resilient, able to endure suffering.

Moreover, because Linzhou and Fuzhou faced the great desert, the common folk had a custom of horsemanship and produced many cavalrymen; and because the land was thick with mountain forests, the people were fierce and hardy, and skilled at moving through the hills.

In history, the Zhe and Yang families of Linzhou and Fuzhou were able to hold off the Tangut in the west and resist the Khitan in the north precisely by relying on these hardship-enduring people of the two prefectures, who could mount and shoot from horseback, and dismount and slip through mountain forests.

By the time Luo Yu'er, leading thirty elite riders and escorted by Fuzhou mountain folk, reached the city of Fuzhou, the whole city was at its most tense moment.

The city's four gates were tightly shut, and along the road there were more than ten checkpoints of soldiers. Only after Luo Yu'er had stated his purpose and nearly half a shichen had passed did the soldiers atop the wall open the gate and let him enter.

In the gate passage, the man who received Luo Yu'er was a military officer about his own age — both around twenty — tall and imposing, with a martial bearing.

"Are you the special envoy of His Highness the King of Han of Hexi? I am Zhe Deyi, young lord of the Yong'an Army and Chief Cavalry Officer of the Governor's Guard. My father awaits the envoy at the headquarters."

"So it is Young Lord Zhe before me." Luo Yu'er cupped his hands very courteously.

"I am a Commander under the King of Han of Hexi, come by the King of Han's order to pay my respects to Military Governor Zhe!"

After a few pleasantries, Luo Yu'er asked with some puzzlement, "Winter is nearly here, the very season for stockpiling goods to last through it. Keeping the city's four gates shut like this must be rather inconvenient, surely?"

Inwardly, Luo Yu'er had a thought he did not voice: this couldn't be to guard against our Guiyi Army, could it?

We're still three hundred li away — is there any need to be this cautious?

Zhe Deyi had always been quick-witted — this was the father-in-law of Yang Wudi and the father of She Taijun — and he immediately saw that Luo Yu'er had misunderstood. He quickly cupped his hands and said with a sorrowful look.

"This matter all stems from the court ceding the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun to the Khitan. Our Fuzhou is among the ceded lands. Yelu Deguang has already given the order to move all the people of Fuzhou to Liaodong to fill out that region, and so the people are in a panic."

Luo Yu'er was briefly stunned, then fury blazed in his eyes. A man of the Guiyi Army like him understood best the helplessness and rage of being betrayed by the court.

"Fuzhou is backed by ranges of mountains, faces the great desert, and the great river winds past it. It has the defenses of mountains and rivers, yet it is to be cut away and given to the Khitan in a single day — what are later generations to do!"

Seeing Luo Yu'er's fists clenched and his indignation clearly unfeigned, Zhe Deyi at once judged him a man worth befriending.

"Commander Luo speaks truly. Once Linzhou and Fuzhou are lost, the northwest's protective screen is gone entirely. Why can the court not see this?"

Luo Yu'er laughed coldly twice. "If the court had a wise and able sovereign, how would our Guiyi Army have been trapped in Hexi for a hundred years, able only to save ourselves?"

The two of them walked on toward the headquarters of the Military Governor of the Yong'an Army, cursing the court as they went.

Zhe Congyuan was born in the second year of Dashun of Emperor Zhaozong of Tang, 891 CE, making him forty-eight this year. He was a very tall man, refined in appearance and gentle toward others — one would never guess he was a military commander holding troops in his hands.

He was still called Zhe Congyuan at present. In history, only after Liu Zhiyuan entered the Eastern Capital and founded the Later Han would Zhe Congyuan change his name to Zhe Congruan, to avoid Liu Zhiyuan's tabooed name.

"I have long heard that the King of Han is the descendant of loyal subjects, that for two hundred years across five dynasties his family never forgot the old country, and at last returned home with eighteen prefectures — truly a model for all under heaven. Were the present situation not so tense, I would surely go to Xiazhou to meet the King of Han."

Zhe Congyuan was a clever man. Whether the Guiyi Army and the Dingnan Army bullied each other or not, it was none of Zhe Congyuan's concern, so long as no one set their sights on his Fuzhou.

And Zhe Congyuan also felt that Zhang Zhao was not foolish enough to come and set his sights on Fuzhou.

Because the Yong'an Army of Linzhou and Fuzhou was different from the Dingnan Army of Yinzhou, Xiazhou, Youzhou, and Suizhou.

Their Zhe family had lived for generations in Yunzhou (Datong). Zhe Congyuan's grandfather Zhe Zongben had followed Prince of Jin Li Keyong.

The Zhe family was therefore not a semi-independent military province like the Li family of the Dingnan Army, but belonged to the circle of the Daibei martial nobility — though they counted only as fringe figures within it.

But even being fringe figures guaranteed that, at least for now, they would not become Zhang Zhao's target.

If the Guiyi Army attacked the Dingnan Army, Shi Jingtang and the Daibei martial nobility would treat it as dogs biting dogs. But if it attacked the Yong'an Army of Fuzhou, that would be little different from rebellion.

This King of Han, Zhang, had made a great stir and with great difficulty returned to the nation with eighteen prefectures, finally rejoining the Central Plains and no longer being treated as Tibetan Wenmo. He would naturally not want to damage his reputation as a loyal subject returning to the nation.

Hearing Zhe Congyuan speak so highly of Zhang Zhao, and having just conversed so pleasantly with Zhe Deyi, Luo Yu'er at once regarded Zhe Congyuan with new respect. He cupped his hands.

"When I set out for Fuzhou, the King of Han said to me that Military Governor Zhe has guarded the border for the nation for decades and is a model for us military men, and bade me treat the Military Governor as an esteemed elder."

"Hahaha!" Though burdened with many affairs and facing the Khitan threat, Zhe Congyuan still laughed heartily.

"His Highness the King of Han overpraises me. Guarding the border for the nation is the duty of this old soldier, the bounden duty of my Zhe family!

It is lamentable that the Khitan are now so powerful, besieging Yunzhou, while the court has ordered us not to send aid. I have guarded the border for decades, and now I must watch Yunzhou fall before my eyes. Alas!"

One long sigh — how much bitterness, how much helplessness.

Luo Yu'er's eyes suddenly went wide. Now he understood why Fuzhou was on such high alert as if facing a great enemy: the Khitan had already arrived.

"Yunzhong is still in Chinese hands? Which general is holding it?"

"The man defending Yunzhou is Wu Luan, aide to Sha Yanxun, Military Governor of the Datong Army, and Administrative Assistant of Datong!" Zhe Congyuan cupped his hands toward the sky and said with deep emotion.

"Since the court ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun, the Khitan ruler Yelu Deguang has repeatedly sent men to take over Yunzhou, and each time Military Governor Sha Yanxun put them off.

This time he came in person with fifty thousand troops, tricked Military Governor Sha into leaving the city to meet him, and then immediately detained him.

Since then the Khitan ruler has personally led his great army in assaulting the city. It has now been five days — who knows how Yunzhou fares now?"

"Our ancestors won this land through bloody battle, and it has guarded our people's flourishing for a thousand years. Now it is ceded, and the northern protective screen is wholly lost. When the Khitan come south in days to come, what will we have left to stop them with?"

Luo Yu'er came from the Guiyi Army; his family had been great generals of the Guiyi Army for generations, and the current Prefect of Suzhou, Luo Tongda, was his grandfather.

In these years, following Zhang Zhao through Anxi, Hezhong, and India, he had long since been stirred by the national righteousness in Zhang Zhao.

Now, hearing that Yunzhou was about to fall and that Fuzhou too was to be ceded, his heart surged with emotion — how could he hold himself back?

"Military Governor Zhe has always been loyal and righteous. Can you hold this Fuzhou? With Yunzhou gone, the frontier defenses are already full of holes. If Fuzhou is lost as well, what place is left to defend?"

Zhe Congyuan and his son Zhe Deyi exchanged a glance. Since Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun, there had been those who cursed bitterly, those who secretly followed the example, and those who put on a show.

But none had been as heartfelt as Luo Yu'er today — truly grieved at the fall of Yunzhou, truly anxious for the northern frontier's defenses.

Such feeling from the heart cannot be faked. This Luo Yu'er was only a Commander in the Guiyi Army, yet already so loyal and righteous; he must ordinarily have been influenced by King Zhang of Han.

It showed that the Guiyi Army's return to the nation with eighteen prefectures was a return in true allegiance!

"You, General, are a man of loyalty and righteousness! Before a man of loyalty and righteousness, I, Zhe, need not hide anything. Even if it costs my life and my clan's destruction, I will never hand Fuzhou over to the Khitan!"

Zhe Congyuan was not speaking falsely. That rumor that the Khitan would move the people of Linzhou and Fuzhou to Liaodong was one Zhe Congyuan himself had spread, precisely to rouse the two prefectures' people to resist.

Upon hearing this, Luo Yu'er bowed deeply to She Congyuan. "Before I came, the King of Han did not know that Yunzhou still had men holding out, nor that Military Governor She was so loyal and righteous. Otherwise he would certainly have sent some arms and equipment. Governor, please wait a moment while I take my leave briefly."

Before She Congyuan could help Luo Yu'er up, Luo Yu'er rose on his own, then rather rudely walked straight out of the room, leaving She Congyuan and She Deyi looking at each other in bewilderment.

But before long, Luo Yu'er came back in with several Guiyi Army soldiers carrying what looked like armor and such. Luo Yu'er bowed again and said in a trembling voice.

"Though I brought a hundred elite cavalry, the men, horses, armor, and weapons were all granted by the King of Han. As his subject, I cannot dispose of them on my own.

But here we have one suit of Hexi cloth-faced iron armor, three suits of iron lamellar armor, and three suits of Persian mail. These are all our private property. Though they may not be of much use, consider them our humble contribution.

I hope the Governor will put the realm first and hold these two prefectures of Lin and Fu, the last strategic strongpoints."

She Congyuan had imagined many things, but he had not expected Luo Yu'er to go do this. Looking at the Guiyi Army soldiers holding the armor, this head of the She family, now nearing fifty, threw back his head and gave a long cry, his eyes seeming to glisten with tears.

He and his son She Deyi walked over together and, facing Luo Yu'er and the others, bowed solemnly.

"Since the court ceded Fuzhou, not one soldier or one measure of grain has come to support us. We have held out bitterly for years, waiting in vain for court reinforcements. We never imagined that it would be Commander Luo and other righteous men who still remembered that Lin and Fu Prefectures are holding on.

This armor, I, She Congyuan, will shamelessly accept. Rest assured, Commander Luo, and please report back to His Highness the King of Han: I would rather die than become a slave of the Khitan!"

Then She Congyuan faced Luo Yu'er and said, "My family and the Li family of the Dingnan Army are both of the Tangut people, but we are not close. Their Tuoba tribe has always wanted to swallow up our Shejue tribe, and there has long been strife between us.

Five years ago, after the Dingnan Army defied the court's order to relocate, I secretly won over the Tangut tribes of Luoli, Guiren, and others northwest of Xiazhou.

This time, let my unworthy son accompany the Commander to Xiazhou. He may be of some help."

Luo Yu'er quickly clasped his hands in thanks. If the She family came forward and helped the Guiyi Army recruit some Tangut tribes, it would also ease the pressure of attacking Xiazhou.

Finally, She Congyuan took She Deyi's hand and said, "Go personally and select fifty elite men fluent in both the Tibetan and Han tongues, and place them under the King of Han's command.

It is nearly deep winter now, and the Khitan will not come at this time. If you can render the King of Han even a measure of service, do so with all your strength." (To be continued.)

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