Chapter 518: No One Here Is a Saint

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Inside the city of Yanshi, Yelu Deguang finally got a taste of the misery the Jin army had suffered years ago when it was besieged at Baituanwei Village.

The emperor of the Great Khitan reflected on the major battles since his march south: apart from the one victory gained through Du Chongwei and Li Shouzhen's groveling surrender, he had basically been losing every fight.

This made Guang-ge develop a deep doubt about his own military ability.

Where exactly had it gone wrong?

The Central Plains was weak, and he was the lord of the steppe with tens of thousands of iron-clad cavalry in hand. Even the Xiongnu and the Turks of old had never possessed tens of thousands of armored horsemen!

The Xiongnu had their Siege of Baideng, the Turks their Oath at White Horse — at the very least, each had enjoyed a century of fortune.

Yet when it came to him, how had it become the disaster at Yangcheng and the siege at Yanshi?

The crushing defeat a month earlier had struck Yelu Deguang extremely hard. A man of ordinarily strong self-restraint, he had already begun drowning his sorrows in wine.

Half-drunk and bleary-eyed, Yelu Deguang recalled what his mother Shulu Ping had said to him when he marched south: "Though you may now win the Han lands, you cannot dwell in them. If by any chance you stumble, what use will regret be then?" and "I fear there will be no day when mother and son meet again."

They felt like prophecies, and they made this emperor of the Great Liao all the more dejected while also filling him with dread.

Seeing the emperor so despondent, Yelu Wuzhi gave a long sigh and walked into Yelu Deguang's temporary palace.

"If Your Majesty goes on like this, do you mean to bury all one hundred thousand of our Great Liao's finest troops here?

They all have parents, wives, and children. Day and night they followed Your Majesty south, and their fathers, mothers, wives, and children are still waiting for Your Majesty to bring them back!"

These words no longer had the slightest power to move Yelu Deguang as he was now. He set down his wine bowl and sighed deeply.

"I am about to die in this place. How can I still concern myself with other people's family reunions?"

Only then did Yelu Wuzhi realize how utterly the emperor had despaired in his heart. He could only think of ways to rouse Yelu Deguang's spirits.

Otherwise it truly would be the end. At least now he knew what was in the emperor's mind, and could persuade him with that in view.

"Why does Your Majesty speak so? Emperor Gaozu of Han had the Siege of Baideng, Emperor Taizong of Tang had the Oath at White Horse. What does today's small setback amount to?

Our Great Khitan ranges across the steppe, and still holds the Sixteen Prefectures of You and Yun. Even if the southern campaign goes badly, once we return to the northern lands, in just a few years we can restore our strength.

Look instead at the Zhang rebel: he came from Hexi, and the eastern capital is two thousand five hundred li from Liangzhou. The produce of Hexi cannot be put to use in the Central Plains at all, and moreover Liu Zhiyuan is in Taiyuan contending with him for power.

With such an exhausted land, a million starving people, the need to support an army of tens of thousands, and Liu Zhiyuan at his side, how could he pacify it all in less than ten years?

We, by contrast, will be dwelling in our homeland, resting at ease while awaiting his northward advance. Who can say who the true lord of this realm will be?"

Hearing Yelu Wuzhi speak thus, Yelu Deguang suddenly thought it over — there really was some sense in it! Why did he have to cast himself as the Xiongnu or the Turks?

That Zhang Zhao was nothing more than a frontier rebel posing as a loyal remnant of the Great Tang. What made him the legitimate line of the Central Plains?

Why could he not be Emperor Gaozu of Han or Emperor Taizong of Tang, while Zhang Zhao was Modu Chanyu or Jieli Khagan?

At that thought, our Guang-ge recovered some of his ambition and fighting spirit.

Sometimes people are like that: alone, one feels as though fallen into hell with no way to turn over, but after someone else talks it through and one's mind opens, it turns out to be nothing much.

Still, Yelu Deguang was somewhat worried. "Now that the great army is bottled up in Yanshi, and the Heyang Bridge has already been seized by the Zhang rebel, what is to be done?"

Yelu Wuzhi said gravely, "We have tens of thousands of iron cavalry, and the Pishi Army and Shushan Army together number twenty thousand. The Zhang rebel has only blocked our front and sent a few thousand troops to harass Xiaoyi Bridge. How can that be called a siege?

It is true that getting the whole army away is no longer realistic, but drawing out eight thousand to ten thousand iron cavalry to escort Your Majesty back north is still achievable."

A pained look appeared on Yelu Deguang's face. Yelu Wuzhi's plan was to break out with only a small force of cavalry, leaving the remaining forty or fifty thousand men behind as toll money.

"Not enough. We must have Du Chongwei lead the Guide Army back north to hold the eastern capital as our rear line, and have Yelu Anduan in the eastern capital go north to Huazhou to seize control of the Baima crossing.

Issue an edict. Tell Du Chongwei to gather fifty thousand shi of grain and fodder and stockpile it in the eastern capital. I intend to make him Son of Heaven of the Central Plains."

Yelu Wuzhi was overjoyed. The emperor still knew to arrange a rear line and paint a grand promise to string Du Chongwei along. Clearly his wits had returned to him, and his spirit was rising again.

"I will see to it at once!" Yelu Wuzhi cupped his hands and turned to leave.

"No!" Yelu Deguang immediately called him back.

"Let Xiao Han handle this. You, Grand Xiangwen, should go draw off the elite troops and steady the hearts of the officers and men of the Pishi armies.

Tell the warriors of every army: for the goods and wealth abandoned today, once we return to the northern lands, I will compensate them fivefold from the people of You and Yun."

The look of delighted surprise on Yelu Wuzhi's face deepened. The emperor had mentioned only the Left and Right Pishi Armies and not the Shushan Army — that was the most correct decision.

Because even twenty thousand iron cavalry could not all be taken away. Otherwise the other tribal armies, the Westerners, the Balhae people, and the Han folk would grow suspicious, and would not fight to the death.

And abandoning the Shushan Army was an even more brilliant move, because although the Shushan Army and the Pishi Army were both inner palace-guard armies of the heartland, the Shushan Army had been built by Yelu Deguang's mother, the wrist-severing Empress Dowager. It belonged to Shulu Ping's people.

One must remember that at Shulu Ping's side there was still the Imperial Younger Brother Yelu Lihu, and Shulu Ping doted most on this youngest son.

Once Yelu Deguang returned, there was bound to be a fierce struggle of dragons and tigers. To secure his own power, the Shushan Army had to be abandoned.

Having settled on the strategy of abandoning the Shushan Army, Yelu Deguang summoned palace maids to wash him and change his clothes. After the smell of wine on him had been reduced, guards came in from outside to report that the various Han military governors had come seeking an audience.

Yelu Deguang had brought roughly seventeen thousand Han troops on this campaign. At first they had been commanded by Zhao Yanshou and Li Shouzhen, but then Zhao Kuangzan "defected to the enemy," and Yelu Deguang seized the chance to strip Zhao Yanshou of his military authority.

Last month Li Shouzhen's five thousand men suffered a crushing defeat, and the fellow fled back alone. Yelu Deguang immediately placed him under house arrest, so that the Han military governors could not learn the truth through Li Shouzhen.

Yelu Deguang looked around at the Han military governors surrounding him. Men like Wang Zhou had simply been left imprisoned in the eastern capital. The rest — Fu Yanqing, An Shenqi, Yao Yuanfu, and the like, who were barely usable — had all been brought along.

At first these men had still held some military authority, but after the failed ambush of Zhang Zhao a month earlier had turned into a great defeat, Yelu Deguang had put them under surveillance, forbidding them from secretly meeting one another.

At this moment Yelu Deguang rather wanted to see what they had come for.

"Your Majesty, your servants have seen from the west side of the city that the Zhang rebel has begun assembling trebuchets, and the rebel army has also begun to mass. They are shouting to shake our troops' morale, and we fear we cannot keep control of our men.

We therefore beg the Emperor to appoint a supreme general of the Great Khitan to command the Han troops. Your servants are willing to come to Your Majesty's side as personal attendants and guard Your Majesty's safety."

The one who stepped forward to speak was Gao Xingzhou. These words carried great risk.

The risk was not on Yelu Deguang's side, but in the terms "Zhang rebel" and "rebel army" — those were the risky part, because they could be held against him.

And only Gao Xingzhou could say such a thing. Because Gao Xingzhou and Du Chongwei were in-laws through their children's marriage, he still enjoyed a fair measure of Yelu Deguang's trust.

As soon as Gao Xingzhou finished speaking, An Shenqi, Fu Yanqing, and the others all cupped their hands in unison and declared, "We are willing to be Your Majesty's personal attendants."

Taking these Han generals as personal attendants was something Yelu Deguang had refused to do even in the eastern capital. How would he agree now? Who could guarantee they would not suddenly rise up and strike?

But Yelu Deguang did not think much of it. In his mind, these Han generals were simply afraid of the rumors and had come to pledge their loyalty.

"I dwell within the city, and the royal aura protects me. Worry not, gentlemen. Return each to your own troops and make some preparations. We shall soon fight the decisive battle with the Zhang rebel."

Gao Xingzhou and the others would have none of it. Each knelt prostrate on the ground. "Your servants are utterly sincere. We beg the Emperor to send Khitan high commanders to lead the Han troops."

At the sight of this, Yelu Deguang grew all the more certain they were afraid of being swept up in the rumors. He turned the matter over in his mind for a moment.

Last time, Li Shouzhen had failed to control his subordinates, and as a result five thousand Han troops had become a burden on the battlefield instead.

Now that these Han generals were voluntarily offering to hand over military authority, he would accept it, then send his own men to take control. When the time came, he could use them as cannon fodder.

At once, Brother Guang pretended to deliberate for a moment, then gave a slight nod.

"When I ascended the throne, I said that I would treat the foreign and the Han as one."

At this point, Yelu Deguang shifted his tone. "But since you, my ministers, are so earnest, I grant you the privilege of sharing in the palace guard duties. Each of you may keep your personal guards and await orders before my tent!"

"We thank Your Majesty for his great kindness!"

An Shenqi, Gao Xingzhou, Fu Yanqing, Yao Yuanfu, and the others did not exchange a single glance, yet some unspoken understanding seemed already to have been reached.

Yelu Deguang still thought too simply of these surrendered Later Jin generals. Nor had he considered carefully: could these veteran commanders, who had made their names in such a chaotic age, possibly be easy marks?

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