Chapter 426: An Era Has Ended

Cao Yuanshen was pulled straight up from his bed while taking an afternoon nap at home.

When he saw it was Cao Yanlu, Cao Yuanshen flew into a rage, grabbing the wine jug beside him and making to hurl it at Cao Yanlu.

Crack!

But Cao Yuanshen's wine jug never left his hand — it was smashed to pieces by a hengdao saber.

Shards of porcelain and the dregs of wine splashed all over Cao Yuanshen's head and face.

The young lord Cao froze. He finally saw clearly that behind Cao Yanlu were not their old Cao family yabing guards, but several fellows dressed in brocade robes, swaggering and full of themselves.

The brocade-robed man who had smashed his wine jug was now watching Cao Yuanshen with an amused look.

Cao Yuanshen suddenly understood — these were brocade emissaries. Zhang Zhao had come to arrest him!

Cao Yuanshen, who normally boasted to the heavens, who believed Zhang Zhao would not dare do anything to him, who believed Zhang Zhao owed a debt to the Cao family and the main Zhang clan, was stunned. Then an expression of fear rose unavoidably onto his face.

"Send word to Eleventh Daughter at once, and to Nineteenth Daughter too! Cao Liu, have you lost your mind? You dare bring Zhang Erlang's men to arrest your own uncle?" Cao Yuanshen roared fiercely, though his heart was quailing.

Eleventh Daughter was the daughter of Cao Yuanshen whom Zhang Zhao had married off to Yin Yaozi. Normally Cao Yuanshen disliked this son-in-law Yin Yaozi the most, but now he remembered him.

As for Nineteenth Daughter, who had married Zhang Zhao, Cao Yuanshen had also looked down on her in every way before. But now it seemed that in his heart, he still knew who could save his life.

Faced with Cao Yuanshen's forced bravado, Cao Yanlu, who had been enduring him all along, could bear it no longer.

This Cao Yuanshen, in Dunhuang, besides speaking resentful words about Zhang Zhao, had also spread plenty of gossip about Cao Yanlu's father, Cao Yuanzhong.

Of course, Cao Yanlu was even more afraid that Cao Yuanshen would keep running his mouth and say other things that should not be said.

He let out a great shout, whipped the hengdao saber from his waist at lightning speed, and chopped downward with all his might.

This blade, struck in fury, moved with extreme speed, directly cutting Cao Yuanshen's...

folding bed, carving a huge notch into it. Splinters of broken wood even flew up onto Cao Yuanshen's face.

"Does Uncle want to drag our whole Cao family down to ruin with you? You still dare to speak such resentful words? If that is how it is, you had better end yourself, old man — lest you drag your descendants down with you!"

Cao Yuanshen was thoroughly frightened. Looking at Cao Yanlu, who normally was all smiles with him and would occasionally offer a word of advice, Cao Yuanshen felt for the first time —

that things might not be as simple as he had thought, and that Zhang Zhao was not as indecisive as he had imagined.

By the time the pale-faced Cao Yuanshen was escorted over, twenty or thirty people were already kneeling in Qingyuan Palace — all of them disgruntled members of the Cao and Zhang families.

Back when Cao Yijin was alive, they had all been power-holders in the Guiyi Army headquarters.

Once Zhang Zhao took over, their hopes that Zhang Zhao would arrange posts for them everywhere as Prefects and other high officials had completely come to nothing. Worse, Zhang Zhao had even stripped them of their offices in Shazhou.

In truth, it was only natural that they bore grievances.

But this could not be blamed on Zhang Zhao either. If they truly had ability, Zhang Zhao would have had no reason to refuse the service of such close kin!

He was in the founding stage of his enterprise, when close kin were more reliable than outsiders.

But these members of the Zhang and Cao families were simply beyond help.

The older generation was lethargic and spiritless; the middle generation schemed and scrabbled for petty gain.

The younger generation had mostly grown up in Dunhuang, where the religious atmosphere was fervent. They had no martial ability, and all their literacy was devoted to Buddhist scriptures — there were hardly any among them worth using.

Zhang Zhao shot a glance at Cao Yuanshen. Ever since he had transmigrated here, Cao Yuanshen had never made a good impression on him, and now he was practically the ringleader of Dunhuang's resentful crowd.

Although he could not be killed, Zhang Zhao was already prepared to teach him a proper lesson.

He should never have let Yin Yaozi marry Cao Yuanshen's daughter in the first place. Otherwise, Zhang Zhao would really have liked to put this fellow to the sword.

When Zhang Zhao's glance fell on him, Cao Yuanshen immediately felt a chill run through his whole body. Only now did he realize that Zhang Zhao was no longer the handsome Zhang Erlang of his memory.

He had become an extremely imposing superior with a cold, piercing gaze — a true Great King who held the power of life and death over millions.

"There are no outsiders here — all of you are close kin of my Zhang Erlang. So I will speak plainly. Haven't you always said I never give you a chance at office?"

As he spoke, Zhang Zhao clapped his hands. The palace attendants opened the great doors of Qingyuan Palace, and everyone saw that outside were arrayed swords, spears, halberds, axes, hammers, bows and crossbows, along with some precious high-grade white paper.

"The examination outside is exactly the same as the civil and military examinations I established in Liangzhou. I told you to go take the exams, and none of you went.

Now I want to see for myself just how much talent you actually have, that makes you think you have been buried.

Guo Tiance, you will preside. I am giving them an extra examination session. Summon every male in these families aged twelve and above, and have them take it.

Whether they choose the civil track, the military track, or agriculture — as long as they pass the assessment in one subject, they will be appointed to office immediately. As for those who fail — heh!"

Zhang Zhao snorted coldly. "Then do not blame me for setting aside family feeling. All who fail are guilty of deceiving their sovereign. Each one gets twenty strokes of the rod, and hard."

As he spoke, Zhang Zhao looked at an old man who was trembling and said:

"Uncle, do not be alarmed. Erlang knows you are old and frail. Even if you fail, you will not be beaten."

The old man forced out a smile with all his might and was about to give thanks, when Zhang Zhao's expression changed and he roared in a raised voice:

"But Tenth Son and Seventeenth Son have no problem with their bodies. Those twenty strokes — let them take them on your behalf. Everyone over forty follows this same rule."

At these words, the older ones quietly breathed a sigh of relief, while the younger generation turned ashen-faced. In their hearts they understood that at least one beating per person was unavoidable.

Cao Yuanshen, however, quietly let out a breath of relief. Setting aside his habit of always speaking resentfully and his lack of respect for Zhang Zhao, his learning was actually not bad — at least passing the Ming Suan examination would be no problem for him.

But just as Cao Yuanshen's heart was settling a little, Zhang Zhao turned and stared at him, speaking with a half-smile that was not quite a smile.

"I have long known that Second Cousin possesses great talent. I have heard that in Dunhuang, you often compare yourself to the Left and Right Chief Ministers.

In that case, Second Cousin need not take this examination. When we return to Liangzhou, I will personally examine and test you."

The way Zhang Zhao said the words "examine and test" carried a hint of gnashing teeth — it sounded almost like "roast and char."

Only now did Cao Yuanshen begin to feel truly afraid. He knew Zhang Zhao would not let him off easily. It was quite possible that Zhang Zhao really would roast him to a crisp.

While they were speaking, all the male members of the families who had taken part in the little clique of Cao Yuanshen and Zhang Anxin were being brought one after another to Qingyuan Palace.

But no one came from the family of Zhang Anxin, who had made the most trouble alongside Cao Yuanshen. Just as Zhang Zhao was wondering about this, Li Xiaojie hurried over.

The moment he saw Zhang Zhao, he immediately dropped to his knees on the ground and said in a low voice:

"Reporting to the Great King: when we went to Zhang Anxin's house, before we had time to announce ourselves, he had already barred all four gates, seemingly intending to resist to the death.

Before your servants could even summon the Seventh Battalion troops to the scene, cries of wailing came from within the house. Zhang Anxin and his two sons, Liangjiu and Liangzhen, had all hanged themselves."

Zhang Zhao clicked his tongue and was silent for a long while. This Zhang Anxin was not actually his blood kin — he had become part of the family when the Zhang Zhao branch, the Dragon-Snake Zhangs, merged their lineage with the Shazhou Zhang clan.

In other words, Zhang Anxin was actually a member of the Shazhou Zhang clan, and had no blood relation to Zhang Zhao at all.

Perhaps because of this very fact, Zhang Anxin knew there was not much familial affection between him and Zhang Zhao.

So when the Brocade Guard agents arrived, he took his own life out of fear.

To be honest, Zhang Zhao did not understand either — why did such people exist in this world?

Clearly possessing little ability, yet convinced they had talents to govern heaven and earth, convinced they had immense skills never given a chance, looking down on this person and that person.

Behind people's backs, they dared say anything, but the moment a face-to-face confrontation was required, or danger arrived, they always chose the most impulsive and irresponsible course.

Such people talk grandly and seem widely knowledgeable, but in truth have no ability and no sense of responsibility.

Cao Yuanshen, being relatively close to Zhang Zhao, also heard the news of Zhang Anxin's suicide. Already somewhat fearful, he could no longer hold himself together.

This Second Young Lord Cao collapsed to the ground with a thud. In his heart he was still clear-headed: if things continued this way, very likely no one would shed blood.

But once someone did shed blood, it was hard to say whether that blade of slaughter could be so easily sheathed again.

Yet it was not his fate to die. At this most critical moment, Cao Yanjing, who had been in Dunhuang observing mourning for Cao Yuande, came running over.

He did not even have time to pay his respects before shouting loudly at Zhang Zhao.

"Great King, please go quickly to the Li family home west of the city! The Fourteenth Aunt Great-Grandmother is likely not going to make it!"

The moment Zhang Zhao heard this, he could attend to nothing else. He left Guo Tiance there to continue administering the examinations to these fellows, while he himself swiftly mounted his horse and galloped off west with Cao Yanjing.

The Fourteenth Aunt Great-Grandmother Cao Yanjing spoke of was Zhang Zhao's fourteenth grandaunt, Li Cunhui's own great-grandmother — the fourteenth daughter of Zhang Yichao, who had married the Guiyi Army's great general Li Mingzhen: Lady Zhang of the Li family.

By the time Zhang Zhao arrived at a gallop, Li Cunhui and his father Li Shaozong and the rest were already weeping on the ground.

Lady Zhang of the Li family lay on a folding couch. Apart from the faint rise and fall of her chest, she was no different from a corpse.

Zhang Zhao walked slowly over, placed his hand on her forehead, and gently called to this last surviving grandaunt of his closest kin.

At this moment, on the verge of death, Lady Zhang of the Li family had wasted away to only sixty or seventy jin, looking just like an ordinary old woman.

But Zhang Zhao knew her life had been anything but simple. As Zhang Yichao's most beloved youngest daughter, when she was five years old, Zhang Yichao had begun raising troops to drive out the Tibetans.

As soon as she came of age, she was married in splendor to Li Mingzhen, one of the three great generals of the Guiyi Army, ranked alongside Yan Yingda and Suo Xun.

Li Mingzhen was not only a great general of the Guiyi Army, he also came from the Longxi Li clan, a branch line of the Li Tang royal house.

Though he was a bit older than her, he was a hero of his time, and his family lineage was noble beyond compare.

Lady Zhang of the Li family had witnessed her father Zhang Yichao's heroic rise, and had witnessed the glory of her cousin Zhang Huaishen recovering Liangzhou a second time.

She had further witnessed the bastard-born son's villainy, the murder of Zhang Huaishen by Suo Xun and others, and the ascension of her own younger brother Zhang Huai-ding.

When Zhang Huai-ding died of illness and Suo Xun usurped the Zhang family's power, it was she, Lady Zhang of the Li family, who with her four sons pulled Suo Xun down from the position of Guiyi Army Military Governor, and supported her young nephew Zhang Chengfeng to retake the Zhang family's Military Governor seat.

At that time the elder brother had died and the younger brother was lost, the realm was toppling, and she took on the orphan's charge, toiling endlessly merely to survive. It was by the spirit of the Grand Guardian that grace was seized and the villain exterminated, restoring the heir to glory.

This must have been the crowning moment of Lady Zhang of the Li family's life — when she seized the Zhang family's patrimony back from Suo Xun.

Only later, Lady Zhang of the Li family did not escape the grip of lust for power either. She and her sons divided control of the various prefectures and were arrogant for a time, until at the height of their glory they were overthrown by Zhang Chengfeng with the support of the great clans of Shazhou.

Three of Lady Zhang of the Li family's four sons were lost, but she herself survived that coup.

And after that, she witnessed Zhang Chengfeng proclaim himself the White-Clad Son of Heaven, and then be beaten into the dust by the Uyghurs.

Now, she had also seen Zhang Zhao's rise, and how he had once again brought the Guiyi Army to heights that even Zhang Yichao could not have reached.

One could say this woman's life had been extraordinarily rich and vivid. She was the living fossil of the entire Guiyi Army, a living witness to this lonely loyal remnant of the northwest — its rise, decline, and rise again.

Perhaps because she heard Zhang Zhao's call, Lady Zhang of the Li family, too weak to speak, opened her eyes. In a final flash of lucidity, she grasped Zhang Zhao's hand and spoke indistinctly.

"I am so glad! And I hate so much!"

Though these two sentences seemed somewhat without context, Zhang Zhao understood what she meant. What Lady Zhang of the Li family was glad about was seeing Zhang Zhao lead the Guiyi Army to greatness once more.

What she hated was that in the past she had been blinded by power, leading to the gruesome deaths of three of her four sons and more than a dozen grandsons.

Zhang Zhao gently patted her hand. "Fourteenth Grandaunt, do not dwell on such things. All that is past. Our Zhang family will never slaughter one another again."

Lady Zhang of the Li family nodded in comfort. "Erlang, forgive them. No more killing among ourselves. You said it."

Zhang Zhao paused slightly, then nodded gently. Not only was this Lady Zhang of the Li family's dying wish — Zhang Zhao had never intended to kill anyone in the first place.

"Then it is well!" Lady Zhang of the Li family's face was full of comfort. Suddenly her hand lifted a little, and her eyes stared fixedly at the sky above, her pupils motionless.

"Papa! Papa! Is it you, come to fetch me? You have come for me! You do not blame me!"

In that instant, a comforted smile — the adoring smile of a child seeing her father — bloomed on Lady Zhang of the Li family's gaunt, withered face.

She had received her final satisfaction. She had seen her most beloved father, come to take her.

Miraculously, Lady Zhang of the Li family's hand rose high — then suddenly fell.

Tears burst from Zhang Zhao's eyes, and behind him, weeping erupted in force.

This woman who had personally witnessed the Guiyi Army's rise, its self-destruction, its decline, and its rise again — the last surviving child of Zhang Yichao — had left the world.

It was as if the era of the old generation of the Guiyi Army had ended at this very moment.

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