Chapter 42: The Great King of Tuoxi, Cao Yijin

Dunhuang City, the famous tourist destination of the northwest in later ages, was in reality very small and unremarkable. The entire population of Dunhuang was only a little over a hundred thousand, smaller in scale than a county seat in the southeast.

But in the late Tang and Five Dynasties, when the Silk Road was still casting its last fading light, Dunhuang City could still be counted as a pearl upon the Hexi Corridor.

In the Dunhuang City of today, there were more than sixty thousand registered residents alone. Add the passing merchants and the various peoples from nearby who came to sell vegetables and livestock, and the whole of Dunhuang held around eighty thousand people. A full third of the Guiyi Army's population made its living off this city.

As the most important stronghold of the Guiyi Army, Dunhuang City's defenses were also the most solid and complete along the Hexi Corridor.

The entire city wall of Dunhuang had a circumference of over fifteen li, and the interior was divided into three sections. From outside to inside they were the Yangma City, the Outer City, and the Inner City.

The walls stood over six chi high, and the Mengshou Canal and the Wudu Canal, two man-made channels more than three meters wide, served as the moat.

In years past, when the Ganzhou Uyghurs had come to the city walls, they had besieged it for more than two months and never managed to break in.

The Yangma City, as the name implied, was the outer city where cattle and sheep were penned, and it was also the market for bulk commodities.

Some of these cattle and sheep belonged to nearby residents and powerful clans, and some belonged to passing merchants. The cold wind had already risen, and great herds of cattle, sheep, horses, and camels huddled together for warmth, while the herders tending them were stockpiling winter fodder.

The Outer City was the district where the people of Dunhuang lived their daily lives. The east side of the city was the residential quarter, while the west side was filled with post stations, small and medium markets, and a great many temples. In the north of the city there was also a large open area, which was the great camp where the Military Governor's troops were stationed and drilled.

As for the Inner City, the smallest in scale but the most heavily defended, it was the very core of the Guiyi Army.

The Guiyi Army Military Governor's office, the Military Governor's residence, the Shazhou Prefect's court, the armory where weapons and armor were stored and military affairs overseen, the Registrar's Office in charge of household registers, taxes, and personnel, the official school, the prison city — the great majority of the Military Governor's offices were all located here.

Within the Military Governor's office, four men sat upright in the study: Cao Yijin, the sixth Military Governor of the Guiyi Army, Surveillance and Disposal Commissioner of Guazhou and Shazhou and other prefectures, Acting Minister of Works, and Grand Guardian; along with Cao Yijin's eldest son Cao Yuande, second son Cao Yuanshen, and third son Cao Yuanzhong.

The air in the study was somewhat heavy. Even the maids and servants waiting by the door were terrified, not daring to let out a breath.

"Sanniang has returned, is that right?" Cao Yijin, the Military Governor of the Guiyi Army, was an old man of somewhat stout build.

Of course, in his youth he had not been stout at all, but rather an extremely brave and fierce warrior on the battlefield. The Tang dynasty had always emphasized both civil and martial pursuits, and although Cao Yijin had mostly held civil posts, when he charged into battle he was no less than those generals who trained in martial arts year-round.

Hearing their father's question, the eldest Cao Yuande and the second son Cao Yuanshen both remained silent. The third son Cao Yuanzhong stepped forward and stood like a schoolboy who had done something wrong — after all, he was Sanniang's father.

"Replying to my lord, Yannai arrived earlier this morning and is now waiting outside the courtyard gate!"

"Call her in. It hasn't been easy for her — she goes back to visit her family and gets abducted. You as her father, you as her uncles, and I as her grandfather, we all bear responsibility!" Cao Yuande's half-closed eyes slowly opened, and he waved a hand as he spoke.

Lady Cao Sanniang slowly walked into this unremarkable little room in the Military Governor's office. This was only the second time in all these years that she had entered it.

The last time she had come in was thirteen years ago, when she had come once as an important "tool" in the marriage alliance between the Cao and Murong clans.

The rest of the time, this room that symbolized the highest power of the Cao family was one that even Cao Yijin's three wives — Lady Suo, Lady Song, and the Uyghur princess Lady Li — were not permitted to enter.

"Your granddaughter Yannai kowtows to Grandfather, to Father, and greets First Uncle and Second Uncle!"

Although she thought of herself as strong, and although she bore some resentment that the three men in this room had not been more desperate to rescue her, Lady Cao Sanniang found that her voice had taken on a tearful tone.

"You've suffered, haven't you? Come over here to your old grandpa!" Cao Yijin patted a brocade stool beside his chair and said.

"Grandpa!" Lady Cao Sanniang walked over pitifully, like a little girl. Before she had even sat down on the brocade stool, her tears began to fall.

"Yannai has not suffered. Fortunately I met Young Lord Zhang Erlang. After all, he is my maternal cousin, and he did protect your granddaughter."

"How do you know it wasn't he who had you abducted? This Zhang Erlang dares to seize even Shisi. You're just a woman — would he really go out of his way to protect you?"

Cao Yuanzhong grew angry at once and began scolding Lady Cao Sanniang right in front of Cao Yijin.

"Enough! Enough!" Cao Yijin waved his hand. He knew that Cao Yuanzhong was not really scolding Lady Cao Sanniang, but merely making a show of his attitude.

After all, Zhang Zhao had seized Cao Shisi and then immediately released Lady Cao Sanniang, which made it look as though some kind of deal had been made.

"No one is blaming you for the matter of Shisi. What are you so anxious about?"

"Tell your old grandpa, what kind of man is this Zhang Erlang? Back then it was I who carried him out of this very room. I heard he was wholly devoted to vegetarianism and chanting sutras in Shouchang — how has he changed so quickly, as if he were a different person? And now he's even taken up the business of abducting people!"

Lady Cao Sanniang glanced at her grandfather Cao Yijin, thought for a moment, and decided to speak the truth.

"Your granddaughter believes Zhang Erlang is by no means simple. One might even say he has the bearing of a fierce hegemon!"

"Oh? The bearing of a fierce hegemon?" Cao Yijin had not expected his granddaughter to hold Zhang Erlang in such high regard. He raised a hand to stop his three sons from interrupting and gestured for Lady Cao Sanniang to continue.

"Grandpa! Your granddaughter has reason for saying this. Zhang Erlang is kind to people, even to herding slaves of the lowest and meanest station. At the same time, he can discuss poetry and the culture of the Great Tang with your granddaughter, and he can also talk with the crudest of soldiers. In battle he charges at the front, and after the battle he distributes rewards fairly and without favoritism.

Is not a man who can win the hearts of the scholars, earn the reverence of the warriors, lead from the front, and remain fair and impartial — is that not the bearing of a fierce hegemon?

Your granddaughter often thinks that if the White-Clad Son of Heaven back then had possessed Zhang Erlang's methods, perhaps the Jinshan Kingdom would not have fallen!"

"Outrageous! Outrageous! You're a woman — what do you know of the bearing of a fierce hegemon? What you're describing isn't Zhang Erlang at all. I'd say you're describing Emperor Taizong the Cultured!

To win the hearts of the scholars, earn the reverence of the warriors, and remain impartial — even his ancestor, the Grand Guardian of the Zhang clan, did not have that ability. I think you are...!"

At this point, Cao Yuanzhong suddenly stopped short. He had been about to say, "I think you've been bewitched by him!" but then he suddenly remembered that Lady Cao Sanniang was his own daughter, and saying such a thing seemed somewhat improper.

Lady Cao Sanniang felt a surge of irritation. She suddenly grew impatient with her father Cao Yuanzhong's habitual style of being steady and even-keeled, offending no one and never sticking his neck out.

What time was this? Once the Great King the Linggong passed away, the Guiyi Army would immediately face a tremendous crisis. Could such a perilous situation be weathered by mere steadiness and offending no one?

"In years past, the first title of honor that Emperor Taizong the Cultured received was Duke of Dunhuang Commandery. How do you know, my lord, that this city of Dunhuang will not produce another figure like Emperor Taizong the Cultured? Even if it cannot, would it not be good to produce a figure like the Grand Guardian?"

"Rebellion! Rebellion! I think you've lost your mind! If another Grand Guardian appeared, what benefit would that be to our Cao family?" Though Cao Yuanzhong was scolding her, he only felt wave after wave of guilt, terrified that his father Cao Yijin would grow angry.

"Sanniang, do you truly think so highly of Zhang Erlang? Our family's power was taken from the Zhang family. If Zhang Erlang truly has the bearing of a fierce hegemon, what will become of our Cao family?"

To her surprise, a trace of a smile appeared on Cao Yijin's face, as if he found the matter rather interesting.

"Grandpa! Your granddaughter dares to say — Zhang Erlang had a message he asked your granddaughter to bring to you. May your granddaughter speak it?"

As Lady Cao Sanniang spoke, ignoring the murderous look in her father Cao Yuanzhong's eyes, she knelt directly on the ground before Cao Yijin.

The smile on Cao Yijin's face grew even more amused. "Speak. Speak boldly. Tell your old grandpa every word, without missing a single one. I truly would like to hear what this audacious Zhang Erlang has to say about this old wreck."

"Zhang Erlang said that he has never resented you for abandoning the Jinshan Kingdom back then, nor does he consider the Cao family replacing the Zhang family to be a seizure of power. He said it was the will of the people.

He also hopes that you, Grandpa, will take care of your health. He said you are the anchor of the Guiyi Army, and that as long as you are here, the hundred thousand and more sons of Tang in Hexi still have a home.

He will not harm the Cao family, but he will use his own way to find another road for us, the lonely loyalists of the northwest!"

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