Chapter 475: The Storm Gathers Over the Tower

In Liangzhou, Murong Xinzhang had just returned home when he saw someone he knew very well.

Though the signature long beard on his cheeks was gone, that habit of slightly narrowing his eyes and his towering frame were still just as striking.

This man was none other than the military officer who had stood behind Zhao Kuangzan, then Military Governor of the Zhenguo Army in Huazhou, when Zhang Zhao first entered Guanzhong to put down the rebellion — the one who so resembled Lord Guan.

Princess Yongle set down a cup of tea and walked out with graceful ease, not giving Murong Xinzhang so much as a pleasant look.

Ever since Murong Xinzhang had brought back the pair of sisters of Pugu Luo, Commander of Tingzhou in Gaochang, Princess Yongle had been sulking at him for months.

In truth, though, this was only a tactic on Princess Yongle's part.

For a principal wife of her standing, if she did not show her displeasure in this way and put her husband in his place, the household would be lively indeed from then on.

Moreover, whether to allow a husband's concubines through the door was in the first place the principal wife's most important authority, and it had to be upheld.

Still, Princess Yongle knew what mattered and what did not. Some things allowed a little show of temper, but other things had to be handled with care.

Now, for instance, was not the time for a show of temper.

For on the surface, Zhang Zhao relied on Zhang Liecheng's Brocade Guard agents to gather intelligence from all quarters.

But when it came to Shi Chonggui and the movements of the Later Jin court, the most dependable source Zhang Zhao relied on was precisely Princess Yongle.

Because Empress Dowager Li, the principal wife of Shi Jingtang, was Princess Yongle's third elder sister.

Li Siyuan, Mingzong of the Later Tang, had fathered as many as fifteen daughters; twelve of them lived to adulthood, and every one was married into a powerful family of the Central Plains.

Through this line, Murong Xinzhang and Princess Yongle had built for Zhang Zhao his most reliable intelligence network.

Empress Dowager Li, Shi Chonggui's mother in name, personally passed word of Shi Chonggui and the Later Jin court to Zhang Zhao — nothing could be more accurate than that.

"Your servant Zhao Xian pays his respects to Fifteenth Young Lord!"

Zhao Kuangzan, whom Zhao Xian served, was the son of Li Siyuan's thirteenth daughter, Princess of Yan; Murong Xinzhang had married the fifteenth daughter, Princess Yongle.

In those days it was the custom to call a son-in-law "young lord," so Zhao Kuangzan and those around him had always addressed Murong Xinzhang as Fifteenth Young Lord.

"Venerable Xian, you are an elder — please, no such ceremony. How fares Mei Ge'er in the Liao lands? I heard the Thirteenth Sister died of illness in Youzhou; I cannot imagine how grieved he must be."

Zhao Kuangzan's childhood name was Zhao Mei, and Murong Xinzhang was his fifteenth uncle by marriage, so he could call him Mei Ge'er.

Zhao Xian was nearly fifty, and had looked after Zhao Kuangzan ever since Zhao Dejun and his son Zhao Yanshou fled to the Khitan — a loyal old servant.

His standing was much like old Zhang Zhong's beside Zhang Zhao; he could not be treated as a mere servant.

"The young lord is well enough, only that he longs day and night to return to the Central Plains. Ah!"

At this, Zhao Xian heaved a long sigh. "My master is bewitched, to actually regard the Khitan lord as his sovereign and father. The young lord can do nothing, and so he sent me to Fifteenth Young Lord's place to seek counsel."

Hearing Zhao Xian speak so, Murong Xinzhang's eyes blazed too.

For as early as last year, he had written, as a fellow son-in-law, to Zhao Kuangzan's father Zhao Yanshou, hoping he would turn back from his delusion and abandon darkness for the light.

In the end Zhao Yanshou did not even reply, and afterward kept following the Khitan south on campaign.

After the surge of anger passed, Murong Xinzhang understood at once that Zhao Kuangzan's sending Zhao Xian all the long way to Hexi was surely out of the ordinary.

For from Zhao Xian's blunt words that Zhao Yanshou was bewitched, one could see that the Zhao household in Youzhou and the former Lulong Army officers and men must have split apart.

"Venerable Xian, have you come to see the Heavenly King?" Murong Xinzhang did not bother asking what the matter was, and led him straight toward Zhang Zhao.

"I have indeed come to see the Heavenly King. The young lord often says to me that in all the world, only the Heavenly King is a true lord of men.

We four hundred brave men of the Zhao family's Lulong Army are unwilling to be slaves to the Khitan. I beg Fifteenth Young Lord to put in a few good words for us and ask the Heavenly King to take us in."

Zhao Xian was good at handling people. Murong Xinzhang did not ask what he had come for — that was proper and tactful — but he could not keep it to himself.

Murong Xinzhang nodded with satisfaction. Zhao Kuangzan was a fine young man, able to break with his own father for the sake of righteousness and bring several hundred men south out of Khitan territory — clearly a man of both ability and ambition.

"Then please, Venerable Xian, go bathe and change in the residence. I will report to the Heavenly King at once."

Just as Murong Xinzhang was going to see Zhang Zhao, Hu Qilang and some twenty others had already reached Jingzhou in the Later Jin and were about to enter the former Weizhou.

The Later Jin's Military Governor of the Zhangyi Army had already moved his headquarters to Ningzhou, far from Weizhou, because Weizhou was in fact already in the hands of the Liang state.

Wu Guo'er, brother of Wu Ying'er, Prefect of Weizhou, was serving as Chief Commander in the Liang state's Yingyang Garrison, and the Liang state's Heavenly King Zhang had over ten thousand mu of fine farmland in Weizhou alone.

The Zhangyi Army officers and men garrisoning Weizhou were called imperial troops, but in secret they all drew the same pay as the Liang state's garrison troops — how could they still heed the Later Jin court's orders?

After Hu Qilang and his men received the Brocade Guard agents' covert assistance in Shanzhou, they disguised themselves as merchants carrying silk and brocade to Hexi.

After all, they had left the column without leave to return to Hexi, and with a large amount of goods and money in tow, at a time when bandits were rising everywhere in Later Jin territory, it was not safe at all.

There were plenty of yabing guards and yabing officers who turned outright to banditry, so dressing as traveling merchants let them set out together with the merchant caravans; greater numbers meant greater safety.

After passing Shanzhou, besides the caravan of over a hundred people that Hu Qilang and his men were with, there were also great numbers of refugees following behind the caravan on their way to the Liang state.

Most of them were in tattered clothes, disheveled and filthy, often traveling as whole families — the men on the outside, the women and children hemmed in the middle.

But apart from those who were truly strong of body, there were almost no elderly among them.

Hu Qilang, having grown up in Anxi, did not quite understand, and only learned the reason after asking.

After suffering such a terrible disaster, before fleeing, the elderly who were somewhat advanced in years would choose to end their own lives, or stay behind at home, leaving the chance of survival to their children and grandchildren.

Because every mouthful they did not eat was one more mouthful of grain to keep their descendants alive.

And the reason these refugees followed the caravan was simple: safety.

Besides, the merchants sometimes needed a few hands for odd jobs — washing the mules and horses, helping with the cooking, and the like — and the refugees could earn a little grain to stay alive.

"Seventh Young Lord! Seventh Young Lord! There are men blocking the road ahead — they've seized Cui San and the others!"

Hu Qilang was just about to gnaw on two bites of flatbread when a caravan hand came running over, stumbling and crawling.

Cui San was not one of Hu Qilang's twenty-odd men, but a refugee who knew a few characters and sometimes helped the caravan with writing and figuring.

His wife was an excellent cook, and did the cooking for the caravan.

Compared with the refugees outside who did not know where their next meal was coming from, Cui San's family had it considerably better.

"Where are these men from? So outrageous — daring to seize the Heavenly King's people?"

In Guanzhong nowadays there was a peculiar phenomenon: all refugees heading toward Hexi were called the Heavenly King's people.

Though the officers in Guanzhong dared embezzle the money and grain Zhang Zhao allocated, none dared openly block refugees from going to Hexi.

"I don't know, but they don't look like yabing guards from Binzhou. There are a few officials among them. They took people, but they didn't beat or curse them."

The shop clerk shook his head. He didn't know how to describe those people either.

Hu Qilang swiftly mounted his horse and rode off with the caravan worker toward the place where Cui San had been seized.

Though he had lost his wrist, he was warm-hearted, upright, and fair in his dealings, and he quickly gained standing in the caravan. Whenever anything came up, people were glad to bring it to him to settle.

By the time Hu Qilang arrived, he understood where the caravan worker's strange feeling had come from.

Because this scene of people being seized was completely different from what he had imagined.

It was not a mob of fierce, murderous men while the refugees fled in terror, scattering like beasts.

Instead, several dozen men with bows on their backs and spears in hand had blocked the road outside Binzhou. One by one, they checked people's identities, then simply kept the ones they wanted.

The leader of these men was a fellow wearing a cotton robe. The moment Hu Qilang saw him, he knew the man had to be connected with the Liang state.

Cotton robes were something ordinary people simply could not get their hands on right now, because the Liang state still kept cotton under a degree of control. Most of the cotton was made into padded armor.

Behind that leader stood a huge stone stele, its surface carved full of characters.

Hu Qilang knew what that stele was for.

Seven years ago, he had followed the Heavenly King into Guanzhong to put down a rebellion. At that time, Jingzhou had been slaughtered by mutinous soldiers.

The Heavenly King dispatched more than a hundred soldiers to gather up the corpses in the city. There were over seven thousand in all. They burned them all and buried them.

Of those hundred-odd soldiers, thirteen also contracted disease and died there, and so the stele was erected to record their memory.

Thinking of this, Hu Qilang slowly walked over. His intact left hand was already resting on the hilt of his saber.

This Binzhou had been saved by the Heavenly King's benevolence. The land deeds of the people of Binzhou had been issued by the Heavenly King. Their good days had all been given by the Heavenly King. Now they dared to ruin the Heavenly King's reputation. This could not be ignored.

But when Hu Qilang drew near, he saw that although Cui San wore a bitter expression, he had not been seized. Instead, he was sitting at a table, writing and drawing.

The men on the other side also sensed the unusual air about Hu Qilang. Instantly they surrounded him warily. The refugees and onlookers nearby were frightened into backing away.

"Hey, you there! Who are—..."

"Eh? Isn't this Qilang? What are you doing here? Ah! What happened to your hand, brother? Who hurt you?"

The leader had come over with a haughty look, ready to question him, but halfway through his words he recognized Hu Qilang at once, and he was unusually delighted.

When he saw that Hu Qilang's right hand was gone at the wrist, he immediately became furious.

Hu Qilang was startled, then slowly recognized who this fierce-faced fellow was. He was a refugee from Binzhou back then, nicknamed Hua Luzi.

Hua Luzi had once assisted the famous physicians Zhao Jinfang and his wife, Lady Han Qiniang, who had followed the Heavenly King to Hexi, and he had picked up a bit of medical skill.

His archery and horsemanship had been taught to him by Hu Qilang back then. Hu Qilang could be considered half a teacher to Hua Luzi.

Later, when the Heavenly King led the great army out of Guanzhong, Hua Luzi's old mother refused to leave her homeland, so the Heavenly King rewarded him with one hundred mu of land, and he stayed in Binzhou.

Who would have thought he had now worked his way up to wearing a cotton robe, looking every bit the official.

"What are you doing here, boy? I hear you've been seizing refugees? You've got some nerve!"

Hu Qilang did not relax his guard in the slightest. Seven years had passed. You never knew what was in another man's heart. Who could say whether this Hua Luzi had changed or not?

"Aiyo, my brother!" Hua Luzi jumped up at once. He hurried over, took Hu Qilang by the hand, and pulled him aside.

"Brother, you mustn't say such things carelessly. If people really believed I was intercepting refugees, I'd be wronged beyond words."

Seeing that Hua Luzi did not seem to be pretending, Hu Qilang's eyes softened a little. He pointed at Cui San and said,

"That man came with me from Shanzhou to this place. His family are refugees heading for Hexi. And you still say you're not seizing people?"

"So that's what this is about! Brother, you've misunderstood." Hua Luzi was instantly relieved.

"Brother, don't look at me now, all dressed up and respectable. I know who it was that lifted me from a mere refugee to my present position.

All of this was given by the Heavenly King. Without the Heavenly King's order, how would I dare detain refugees on my own?"

"So it was the Heavenly King who wanted some of the refugees kept in Binzhou."

Hu Qilang let out a long breath. It seemed the people of Binzhou still listened to the Heavenly King. They knew who had saved their lives and given them their land.

Then it was only reasonable that the Heavenly King now wanted some refugees kept in Binzhou.

Hua Luzi licked his lips, hesitated, then leaned closer to Hu Qilang, shook his head, and said in a low voice,

"Let me tell you, brother. I just received an order from the Deputy Commissioner of the Ningbian Circuit. Everyone in the Jin state's Bin and Wei prefectures is to begin organizing and training able-bodied men at once.

And among the refugees, those who are literate are to be kept here. The Liangzhou Academy of Works is coming to teach them mathematics and also... uh, right! Training. At the same time, we've been ordered to compile reports on conditions and military affairs in Guanzhong."

Hu Qilang was stunned for a moment, then his eyes began to shine.

There was only one reason Hua Luzi in Guanzhong would receive such an order: the Heavenly King was about to make his move. He was preparing to enter Guanzhong.

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