Chapter 44: Cao Yijin's Two-Pronged Preparation

Cao Yuande could not help but be nervous — Cao Yanming was his own son, not someone picked up off the road.

And moreover, he was his favorite son: bright from a young age, knowing when to advance and retreat, able to treat worthy men with proper courtesy. Given time, he would surely be the Qilin child of the Cao family.

But Cao Yijin clearly saw things differently. This "lord of restoration," who had brought the Guiyi Army back from the brink of destruction to the point where it could now keep the Ganzhou Uyghurs in check, had no time for such tender sentiment. He found a stone stool and sat down, unhurriedly brushing the yellow leaves from his clothes.

"If Zhang Erlang dares to come, that is proof enough that he is at best a man of middling talent — incapable of great deeds, yet more than capable of stirring up trouble and ruin. Add to that his bloodline, and after my death he would likely make your lives unlivable.

If such a man is left alive, he will surely become a great calamity for the Cao clan. Therefore he must be eliminated early. Yanming is a grandson of the Cao clan; he should have the resolve to defend the family unto death. Whether he lives or dies — that is up to fate!"

Truly a ruthless man! To kill Zhang Zhao, he was even willing to sacrifice his most beloved grandson!

"Father, what if Zhang Erlang does not come?" Cao Yuanshen glanced sympathetically at his eldest brother Cao Yuande, but no sooner had the words left his mouth than he shook his head.

"Zhang Erlang has not seen his mother in five years. With Lady Song summoning him, and with third brother Yuanzhong vouching for it, he will certainly come!"

"Not necessarily!" Cao Yijin shook his head, then smiled smugly.

"Back then, the Tianmu Khagan of the Ganzhou Uyghurs — my dear father-in-law — detained your uncle, Lord Rengyu, and then had someone imitate my brother Rengyu's handwriting to deceive me into going to Ganzhou in person to receive the bride, even saying he would gift me three hundred armored soldiers.

Hmph! I did not go. Had I gone, I would surely have been killed by the Ganzhou Uyghurs!"

The three Cao brothers looked at one another. Only now did Cao Yuande recall that something like this had indeed happened back then. Many in the Cao family had coveted those three hundred armored soldiers, and fearing the military might of the Ganzhou Uyghurs, quite a few had urged Cao Yijin to go to Ganzhou in person for the wedding.

"All of you remember this! If Zhang Erlang comes, then he is nothing more than a troublemaker, and you must kill him at once!

But if he does not come, then you must be even more wary. One who can endure what ordinary men cannot endure is certain to be meticulous of mind and ruthless of heart. Such a man may truly have the makings of a great warlord!"

The smug look vanished from Cao Yijin's face, and he gazed at his three sons with considerable worry.

His eldest son, Cao Yuande, was accomplished in both civil and military affairs and had some talent, but he was too bound by rules and possessed a benevolent, kindly disposition.

If the realm were unified, such a man would make a fine ruler to preserve what had been built. But now the Guiyi Army's small foundation hung alone in the northwest, surrounded on all sides by barbarians. The words "benevolent and kindly" were probably not much use here.

As for the second son, Yuanshen, there was no need even to mention him. He could not even control his own wife and children, and his personal conduct was extravagant and dissipated. He did not even qualify as a ruler to preserve what had been built.

And the third son, Yuanzhong? He handled matters with perfect steadiness and was smooth and tactful with everyone — a competent paper-hanger, but no great lord either!

While Cao Yijin was appraising his three sons, the three Cao brothers themselves had never imagined their father would assess Zhang Zhao in such terms. Cao Yuanzhong, who felt he had made a mistake in this matter, was especially uneasy. He walked over to his father Cao Yijin and asked tentatively,

"Father, if Zhang Erlang truly has the makings of a great warlord, as you and Yannai have guessed, should we dispatch the governor's guard troops to hunt him down and eliminate him?"

Cao Yijin half-closed his eyes for a moment, then shook his head. "We cannot eliminate him! The lands west of Shazhou are vast. Back when Bald-Tiger Ge Duo was around, we could not even catch Ge Duo. Now, trying to find Zhang Erlang — how easy do you think that would be?

Moreover, the Guiyi Army's troubles do not lie in Zhang Erlang but in ourselves. Yannai was not wrong in what he said: would it not be a good thing for Dunhuang to produce another Grand Guardian?"

Having said this, Cao Yijin looked at his eldest son. "Yuande, you should go down and prepare as well. Does Zhang Erlang not want a written pardon for the descendants and followers of Qi Jiarun? Go draft it, affix my great seal. Whether Zhang Erlang comes to Dunhuang or not, this written pardon will be given.

In addition, prepare to arrest Luo Xianda and send him to Xinting County. Have his elder brother Luo Tongda keep him under strict watch.

Does Zhang Erlang not wish to go to Khotan to make his name and build his career? Then give him all those troublesome, fierce veterans of the Shouchang Garrison under Luo Xianda's command. Since he has declared that he bears me no grudge, then I, as his uncle, will lend him a bit of support as well."

At this point, the three Cao brothers understood their father Cao Yijin's intent. If Zhang Erlang was only a man of middling talent, then lure him to Dunhuang and kill him to eliminate future trouble, lest he use his identity to cause chaos during the transfer of power behind the Guiyi Army.

If Zhang Erlang did not come to Dunhuang — if he would not even come when summoned by a mother he had not seen in years — then that would prove him a cautious, resolute, and ruthless man. Combined with Cao Sanniang's description and assessment, this fellow would truly be a talent, and they should bestow favor upon him to win him over.

Because Zhang Erlang was only nineteen this year. As long as he did not die suddenly, he had at least forty or fifty more years to live. And among them, even the youngest, Cao Yuanzhong, was already forty-three. After they were all gone, whether the Zhang clan would replace the Cao clan again — that was unknown.

The Guiyi Army was a domain of just over a hundred thousand people, and they had intermarried so many times no one could count. The Cao clan's replacement of the Zhang clan had been a bloodless coup.

To bestow favor on Zhang Erlang now was what was called leaving a thread of goodwill so that it would be easier to meet again in the future — in case their descendants proved incompetent and could not control the situation.

Then Zhang Erlang, for the sake of past kindness and kinship, would let the Cao clan — like the present-day Zhang clan of Nanyang — continue to have meat to eat and offices to hold.

"If that is the case, Father, did you not recently intend to send Escort Officers Fan Running, Wu Da'er, Yin Yuanzhu, and others as envoys to the Golden Kingdom of Khotan? Why not let Zhang Erlang go with them to Khotan?

Not only could Zhang Erlang protect the mission's safety along the way, but Fan Running and the others could secretly observe what kind of man this Zhang Erlang really is!"

The mission of Fan Running and the other two to Khotan, which Cao Yuande mentioned, had been decided long ago.

At this time, the empress of Li Shengtian of Khotan was Cao Yijin's sixth daughter, Cao Yuanxin. Although by the institutions of the Golden Kingdom of Khotan there were as many as three empresses, Cao Yuanxin was the most favored.

Because she was Han! As a fervent guardian of Han culture, one who styled himself a military province of the Central Plains dynasty, who addressed the Son of Heaven of the Central Plains as his maternal uncle, and who in his heart considered himself a son of Tang — Li Shengtian naturally favored most of all Cao Yuanxin, who was likewise Han.

At this time, the Khotan crown prince Li Congde, born of Cao Yuanxin — the future King of Khotan Yuchi Sula — had been living in Dunhuang all along, studying Han culture.

Historically, Li Congde remained in Dunhuang for three more years, returning to the Kingdom of Khotan only after mastering the Confucian classics and Han-transmitted Esoteric Buddhism.

Later, when the Kingdom of Khotan was destroyed in the holy war launched by the Karakhanid dynasty, Li Congde's grandson — the last King of Khotan, Yuchi Sengjialuomo, also called Li Tianxing — likewise sent his descendants to Dunhuang to seek refuge with the Cao clan's Guiyi Army. The closeness of the relationship between the Li clan of Khotan and the Cao clan of the Guiyi Army can be seen from this.

Historically, after these two regimes fell, Han culture never again reached the Western Regions. The Great Ming could not even hold Hami. By the time the Manchu Qing, over three generations, conquered the Dzungars, the Western Regions had long since changed beyond recognition.

And this exchange of envoys between the two sides had also been proposed by Li Congde. Fan Running and the others were going to Khotan to test the waters and see whether they could seek the hand of Li Shengtian's third daughter, Princess Tiansheng of the Li clan, for Cao Yuanzhong's eldest son, Cao Yanlu.

This was a major matter between Khotan and the Guiyi Army. The mission was on a considerable scale, and it was indeed a perfectly legitimate opportunity to send people to make contact with Zhang Zhao.

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