Chapter 51: Puchang Sea

Puchang Sea, known in later ages as Lop Nur, was once home to a famous kingdom: Loulan.

To call it famous is not to say Loulan was powerful — on the contrary, from the very founding of the state it had a hard time of it.

Situated on a vital route of the Silk Road, squeezed between the Han dynasty and the Xiongnu, it could hardly have been anything but miserable. Whenever either of those two powers was displeased, they could send a few men over and cut off the king of Loulan's head.

By now, however, the Loulan people had long since migrated southwest during the Han and Jin periods to the city of Wuni — near present-day Ruoqiang — and become the Shanshan people.

After that, Loulan city served for a time as a garrison post for the Great Tang, but once the Great Tang withdrew from the Western Regions, Loulan city fell completely into ruin.

Er — to say it fell completely into ruin may not be entirely accurate either. Although after the Yinma River (the Kongque River) changed course and the waters of Puchang Sea shrank, Loulan was no longer fit for habitation — but that applies to large populations. Supporting a hundred or so people was still not much of a problem.

Of course, Zhang Zhao knew none of this; it was all told to him by Wu Da'er. The envoys on this mission to Khotan were headed by Escort Officer Fan Running, with Wu Da'er and Yin Yuanzhu as his two deputies. There was also Wu Da'er's brother Wu Yuan'er, who was preparing to go to Gaochang as an envoy to the Gaochang Uyghurs.

"Young lord! Young lord! Something terrible has happened!"

Fan Running was a short, dark-faced man. A former traveling merchant, he had been given the nominal title of Escort Officer by the governor's office because of his familiarity with Khotan and Zhongyun, and he often served as a trial envoy for the Guiyi Army's contacts with Khotan and other states. He also had some kinship ties with Fan Quan and Fan Shun, who were at Zhang Zhao's side.

Zhang Zhao hastily got to his feet and ran toward the direction of Fan Running's shouts. They were resting beside a grove of dying poplar trees, and Fan Running had taken a few men to scout Loulan city. For him to be shouting so frantically now, something must have gone wrong.

"Young lord! Those Canwei people have gone mad! Before we even entered the city, arrows came flying out at us — Wu Yuan'er was shot dead by them!"

Fan Running began wailing loudly before he even reached Zhang Zhao. Behind him, several Guiyi Army envoys who had gone along came running up carrying a man on a woolen blanket. The man's chest still had an arrow shaft sticking out of it, the fletching swaying ceaselessly with the motion of his body.

Dunzhu, standing nearby, quickly found an open patch of shade. The men laid Wu Yuan'er on the ground. His face was pale, his lips parched, and there was a large bloodstain on his chest. Zhang Zhao tore open the clothing over Wu Yuan'er's chest and looked — and at once felt somewhat more confident.

The fellow was wearing a rawhide armor vest underneath, so the arrow had not penetrated very deep at all. Zhang Zhao felt his neck; the pulse was extremely weak.

Zhang Zhao used his knife to cut away the leather armor on Wu Yuan'er's body, then leaned his head down and listened carefully twice. The heart was still beating, but very faintly, stopping and starting as if it might give out at any moment.

He had gone into shock from massive blood loss — he was not dead. But if the bleeding continued, there was no telling.

"Bring out the medicine to stop bleeding. I'll give it a try. Whether he can be saved or not will depend on his own fate!"

With that, Zhang Zhao pressed both hands on Wu Yuan'er's chest and began performing CPR. Beside him, Wu Yuan'er's elder brother Wu Da'er, tears and snot streaming down his face, began frantically searching for medicine.

One! Two! Three! By the time cold sweat was beading on Zhang Zhao's forehead, Wu Yuan'er finally let out a faint groan, and his heartbeat resumed.

"Quickly, stop his bleeding. Once he regains consciousness, feed him a little warm honey water — don't give him too much!" Zhang Zhao wiped the cold sweat from his head and instructed.

"Wu Da'er kowtows in thanks for the young lord's great kindness! Young lord, you are truly a divine being!" Wu Da'er dropped to his knees with a thud before Zhang Zhao, and the people around looked at Zhang Zhao with awe in their eyes.

Especially the few men who had carried Wu Yuan'er back — the man had clearly stopped breathing, yet the young lord had brought him back. Was this not the art of raising the dead?

"Don't thank me yet! Whether he lives still depends on himself!" Zhang Zhao's words were not mere modesty. Someone who had bled so heavily as to fall unconscious into shock — even in later ages, with defibrillators, blood transfusions, and the like, they would still need to reach a hospital in time. This era had no powerful means of replenishing blood, so it truly did depend on Wu Yuan'er himself to pull through.

"My lord! A large band of mounted scouts has appeared a li away — it looks like they're coming for us!" Before the sweat had even dried, Fan Shun came running over.

Zhang Zhao followed his gaze. Fan Quan, lying in ambush on a distant sand dune, was frantically waving the red flag in his hand — the signal that a large force of cavalry was approaching!

"Bai Congxin! Take the Youyi Army and mount up!

Yan Jin, Qiongre Duojin, and Yin Yaozi — lead the Hanshan Du in donning armor and forming ranks!

Fan Shun and Ma Yaozi — take up bows and hold the line for me!"

Yan Jin was none other than Deputy Yan. He had originally had no given name, but since his ancestor Yan Chao was from Taiyuan, Zhang Zhao had simply given him the name Yan Jin.

After the blood-oath alliance at Qi Xiahu's mountain stronghold, Zhang Zhao had further consolidated his control over these men and divided his one hundred and eight warriors into three parts.

Thirty men skilled in bow and horse formed the lightly armored Youyi Army, serving as a mobile force.

The remaining seventy men formed an infantry unit called the Hanshan Du, fighting in formation with long spears and great shields, supported by five divine-arm crossbows.

Finally, Fan Quan, Fan Shun, Ma Yaozi, Dunzhu, and three others — seven in all — formed the Xianzhen Lang. Their archery was even more superb, and in addition they carried great axes, iron hammers, and other armor-breaking weapons. Zhang Zhao kept them at his side as his personal guard.

"Yo yo yo yo!" Just as Zhang Zhao finished giving his orders, arrogant shouts rose from below the dune where Fan Quan was posted. At least forty or fifty cavalry, raising a great cloud of dust, came charging straight toward their poplar grove.

"Dumbass!" Ma Yaozi curled his lip and let out a phrase he had learned from Zhang Zhao's own mouth. Normally it was Zhang Zhao who liked to use it to tease him, but now Ma Yaozi had learned to apply it himself.

"These people apparently have no idea how many of us there are. Young lord, this is the perfect chance to use them to make an example!"

Ma Yaozi might be a simpleton in daily life, but on the battlefield his instincts were absolutely sharp.

This was the desert, after all — who galloped horses like that? Horses were not machines. Galloping on like this, they would lose water extremely fast. They would come quickly, but their return would be slow.

For the enemy to be so utterly fearless, there was only one possibility: they had mistaken Fan Running and his party for traveling merchants from Shazhou, and were eager to rush over and rob them, afraid that if they delayed, someone else would beat them to it.

"Twang!" Fan Quan on the dune drew his bow and loosed an arrow. The rider at the very front toppled from his horse.

This infuriated the men below. They split off five or six riders to loose a volley of arrows at Fan Quan on the dune, while several others hastily dismounted and tried to climb up.

"Twang!" Fan Quan loosed another arrow. A rider who was climbing up clutched his shoulder, screamed, and tumbled down. The rest did not stop, only slowed their horses somewhat as they charged on toward the poplar grove.

Zhang Zhao, without even putting on his skirt armor or helmet, charged straight to the front with Fan Shun and the others, while at the same time waving a hand at Yan Jin and Yin Yaozi.

The two understood Zhang Zhao's meaning. Yin Yaozi led fifty or sixty men quietly deeper into the poplar grove to hide, so as not to reveal their strength and scare the enemy off.

Bai Congxin, meanwhile, led twenty-odd riders quietly around to the rear, leading their horses. With so many enemies, if nothing else, those dozens of horses alone were worth quite a bit of money!

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