Chapter 425: Relatives Are the Hardest to Deal With

In Shazhou, Dunhuang, ever since Zhang Zhao had taken away the spirit tablets of Zhang Yichao and Zhang Yichao's elder brother Zhang Yitan's two branches and installed them in the ancestral temple at Liangzhou, the family shrine of the Longshe Zhang clan of Shazhou had become simply an ancestral hall for the Longshe Zhang clan.

The people of the Longshe Zhang clan were actually quite dejected, and they harbored some resentment in their hearts.

Because in their view, although they had contributed only limited effort when Zhang Zhao founded his state, they were, after all, one family!

Even if they were not given the status of imperial clansmen, they should at least have been assigned some official posts, right?

Moreover, they felt that the reason no notable figures had emerged among the descendants of the Longshe Zhang clan, and why they had not rendered great service when Zhang Zhao established his state, was that Zhang Zhao had never given them the opportunity.

Thus, a rather peculiar sight was that in Dunhuang, those who harbored the greatest resentment toward Zhang Zhao were the Longshe Zhang clan itself and certain members of the Cao family headed by Cao Yuanshen — the very people who should have been closest to Zhang Zhao.

The other families, such as the Suo, Li, Luo, Song, and Yin clans, honestly sent their sons and grandsons to serve Zhang Zhao.

They generally did not involve themselves much in the grievance gatherings of Cao Yuanshen and Zhang Anxin of the Longshe Zhang clan.

In fact, it was not only these families who stayed away — even the sole remaining member of the Zhang family's "Huai" generation, Zhang Zhao's grand-uncle Zhang Huaiqing, kept his distance from them.

It was just that Zhang Huaiqing, too, was still somewhat displeased.

The title of Duke of Nanyang Commandery that Zhang Zhao had once promised had indeed been delivered, but then Zhang Zhao had gone and declared himself ruler, which left Zhang Huaiqing's son Zhang Chengfu, this Duke of Nanyang Commandery enfeoffed by the state of Jin, in a rather awkward position.

Moreover, after Zhang Zhao founded his state, apart from Cao Yuanzhong receiving the title of Marquis of Ziting, he had not handed out noble titles on a large scale.

He, Zhang Huaiqing, apart from holding the empty post of Deputy Militia Commissioner of the Hexi Circuit, which only let him oversee the trained archers of Xincheng County, had nothing at all.

"He's here! He's here!" Zhang Huaiqing was old and just wanted to rest a moment, when he heard his son Zhang Chengfu, who had been adopted out to Zhang Huaishen, shouting excitedly outside.

"What 'here, here'? Can you be a bit more composed? Has the second young master of the Zhe family arrived?"

Zhang Huaiqing glared fiercely at Zhang Chengfu. At this moment he suddenly understood a little why Zhang Zhao did not use these people of the Longshe Zhang clan.

It was probably that after the Zhang family had produced these three — the uncle Zhang Yichao, the elder brother Zhang Huaishen, and the grand-nephew Zhang Zhao — the family's fortune had been exhausted. What sort of worthless wretches were these descendants?

This Zhang Chengfu was already the most presentable of his sons, yet he could not even handle the post of County Magistrate properly.

In his thirties, he still panicked at the slightest matter. The Great King had clearly arranged for the second young lord of the Zhe family of the Yong'an Army to come and marry his daughter, yet Zhang Chengfu had made such a fuss that it seemed as if he himself were the one going to marry into the Zhe family, so nervous was he.

"Uncle, it is not that the second young master of the Zhe family has arrived." As he spoke, Zhang Chengfu slapped his forehead and shook his head violently, as though he had said something wrong.

"The second young master of the Zhe family has arrived, but the Great King has come along as well."

"The Great King has come too?" Zhang Huaiqing sprang to his feet, and in an instant a few beads of sweat broke out on his forehead.

Zhang Zhao's sudden arrival was certainly not to attend the banquet for his granddaughter's marriage. He, Zhang Huaiqing, and his son Zhang Chengfu did not have that much face.

This must be to deal with Cao Yuanshen and Zhang Anxin and the others.

At this thought, Zhang Huaiqing rose to his feet, about to send someone to warn Cao Yuanshen, and especially Zhang Anxin and the others. But before the words left his mouth, he let out a long sigh and slumped back down dejectedly.

Cao Yuanshen's relationship with Zhang Zhao was far closer than his own with Zhang Zhao.

People like Cao Yanjing, Cao Yanlu, and Yin Yaozi had not gone to notify Cao Yuanshen, so why should he, Zhang Huaiqing, take that risk?

The garrison troops stationed in Dunhuang and the surrounding counties, although nominally subordinate to the Hanhai Garrison, were in fact not managed by the Hanhai Garrison's Regional Commander Yin Yaozi, but were divided between Cao Yanlu and Murong Guiying.

Cao Yanlu, in his capacity as Prefect of Chongyin Prefecture and Dunhuang Garrison Suppression Commissioner, commanded the Sixth Battalion.

The officers and soldiers of this battalion were the former garrison troops and yabing guards of the Cao family's Guiyi Army.

Zhang Zhao had selected away the most elite among them, then discharged a portion, and the remaining thousand-odd men of middling quality became the Fifth Battalion of the Hanhai Garrison.

The Seventh Battalion, controlled by Murong Guiying — Hexi Circuit Transport Commissioner and Prefect of Shazhou, and also Murong Xinzhang's grandfather — had only one du of three hundred men in Shazhou; the rest were in Guazhou.

This Seventh Battalion of over a thousand men was the private armed force of Murong Guiying, the Prefect of Guazhou and the number-two figure in the former Cao family Guiyi Army.

After Murong Guiying had let Murong Xinzhang take away the two hundred-odd bravest and fiercest among them, he had offered up the rest.

Zhang Zhao was happy to display magnanimity, and simply appointed Murong Xinzhang's fourth uncle as Commander, letting him continue to command these several hundred men of the Seventh Battalion.

And this time, returning to Dunhuang, Zhang Zhao had brought seven thousand men, who were to serve as the vanguard in the coming war against the Gaochang Uyghurs.

They were all cavalry, with the main force being the three thousand cavalry of the Left and Right Yulin Guards.

Although the Left Yulin Guard's Army Commander Murong Xinzhang had gone to the eastern capital, his subordinates Wu Guo'er, Zhang Xibao, Yue Saonu, and others had not left.

With Murong Xinzhang absent, Zhang Zhao directly took personal command as Army Commander, and could still direct them as easily as moving his own arm.

Dunhuang city was in sight. Zhe Deyuan's bridal escort procession advanced slowly with drums and pipes playing.

Because of the distance from Fuzhou and Taiyuan, the wedding would be held directly in Liangzhou, with Zhang Zhao personally presiding.

And taking advantage of this wedding, Zhe Deyuan's father Zhe Congyuan, his elder brother Zhe Deyi, and Yang Hongxin, the Prefect of Linzhou, would also hurry to Liangzhou.

This was something Zhang Zhao had planned from the moment he proposed marrying this cousin of his to Zhe Deyuan.

The submission of the Zhe and Yang families had only been a matter of necessity at Camel Mound. This time he would have them bring along the several dozen fort and stockade chieftains of Fu and Lin prefectures.

Let them witness the strength of the Liang state and the wealth of Liangzhou, then bestow some fine horses, salt, sugar, and tea. Only by combining grace with severity could he thoroughly win them over.

However, Zhang Zhao did not enter the city with the bridal escort procession. Instead, he led fifteen hundred elite cavalry of the Left Yulin Guard directly around the east gate and entered Dunhuang through the north gate.

Cao Yanlu and Murong Guiying, who had received word early, had long been waiting at the north gate with over a hundred elite soldiers of the Sixth and Seventh Battalions, all officers above the rank of squad leader, and the civil and military officials of Dunhuang.

Zhang Zhao leaped down from his horse in one swift motion and helped the two of them up.

Zhang Zhao was in fact very grateful to Murong Guiying. The old man was quite sensible — not only had he married his eldest son's widow to Zhang Zhao without complaint, he had even thrown in his only accomplished eldest grandson.

Zhang Zhao did not say much; he simply took Murong Guiying by the hand.

"I fear it will not be long before I must trouble you, Uncle, to leave Shazhou for a time. Yanlu is still young; he cannot hold up such a great stage. We still need you, Uncle, to hold the fort."

"Uncle" here meant father's elder brother. Given the relationship between Zhang Zhao and Murong Guiying, and the fact that Murong Guiying was older than Zhang Zhao's father Zhang Chengfeng, calling him "Uncle" was entirely fitting.

Murong Guiying chuckled, not suspecting in the least that Zhang Zhao was promoting him in name while demoting him in fact, or moving him out of his old power base. Instead, he immediately guessed what Zhang Zhao intended to do.

"Has the Great King already prepared to thoroughly destroy that band of rebels, the Pugu family of Gaochang?"

The older generation of the Guiyi Army — no! Even the new generation of the Guiyi Army — had always regarded the Pugu family of the Gaochang Uyghurs as traitors.

Who could blame them? The founder of the Gaochang Uyghurs, Pugu Jun, had once been a subordinate general of Zhang Zhao's great-grandfather Zhang Yichao.

Zhang Zhao nodded. "If Jieli Pijia knows what is good for him, he can still go to Liangzhou and live out his days as a wealthy man.

But in my view, he may not possess the 'wisdom' and endurance of the Last Ruler of Shu, so Gaochang will still need you, Uncle, to hold the fort."

Originally, the most suitable person to hold Gaochang would have been Bai Congxin. He was of Kucha origin, a people specially called Uyghur, and was himself one of the few cavalry generals under Zhang Zhao, capable of handling all manner of situations.

But after annexing the Gaochang Uyghurs, the next step would be contending for the Central Plains, and Bai Congxin would still have to help Great King Zhang work nine-to-nine-six to conquer the realm.

Zhang Xichong would actually do as well, but Left Chancellor Zhang's greatest wish was to become a renowned chief minister in the central government, like Fang and Du of old.

Historically, he had not been very willing to go to Lingwu Command, and with Zhang Zhao, he could hardly force Zhang Xichong to go to the Gaochang Uyghurs, a place even more remote than Lingwu.

So after going through the candidates, only Murong Guiying was suitable. The old man's health was still passable, and he could probably manage for about five years without much trouble.

He had governed Guazhou for twenty years and had some ability. While governing Guazhou, he had also raised a private force of about a thousand men and understood military affairs, so Zhang Zhao was at ease.

Zhang Zhao planned that after annexing the Gaochang Uyghurs, he would establish the Beiting Circuit, with Murong Guiying as its Grand Commissioner, and Cao Yanlu as Circuit Militia Commissioner and Prefect of Yinzhou.

He would then transfer the two thousand cavalry of the six tribes of Shanzhou, garrisoned by Yin Yaozi, to enter Gaochang, and one thousand Tangut cavalry from the Xiasui Circuit to enter Beiting City. Once the situation was stabilized, he could turn around and deal with matters in the east.

Everyone tacitly refrained from asking Zhang Zhao why he had entered through the north gate, and Zhang Zhao was in no hurry either.

It was only after he had finished talking with Murong Guiying and Cao Yanlu that Zhang Zhao waved his hand, signaling the brocade-clad agents behind him to go make arrests.

"According to the list, bring every last one of them to the Qingyuan Palace. Be courteous about it — if they don't resist with weapons, don't use force. Liulang, you go personally to Lord Yuanshen's residence and invite him over."

Originally, Zhang Zhao's main purpose had been to use these old guard remnants of Dunhuang to lull Yelu Deguang.

But once he made contact, he realized the Khitan were not all that strong, and moreover they were shifting their center of gravity southward.

It seemed they intended to settle the Central Plains first, then come deal with Zhang Zhao.

In that case, there was no need to keep these old guard remnants of the Zhang and Cao families around to keep making noise. And as it happened, he had lured them all out during this period and completely gathered the evidence of their crimes.

He had not moved against them before because Zhang Zhao lacked the energy, and also because Dunhuang was the first line of defense against the Gaochang Uyghurs.

If a major disturbance broke out, it would be troublesome if the Uyghurs got involved. Now that concern had long since disappeared.

All chapters have been cached for you. Download the APP to view them.