Chapter 537

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On the twentieth day of the first month of the first year of Zhang Zhou's Shaoming reign, at Zhujiachuan in Shuozhou, the Zhou army that had gone to besiege Shuozhou began an orderly withdrawal back toward the Fuzhou area.

The main force of these twenty thousand-plus troops was composed of the Datong Army from the Zhou state's Xiasui Circuit, plus the Zhe family army under Zhe Congyuan, who had accepted Zhang Zhao's title of Marquis of Yincheng.

In addition, Yang Hongxin of Linzhou had drawn off over two thousand men, and the various Tangut tribes had contributed a total of more than four thousand troops.

For the sparsely populated and remote lands north of Dai, fielding these twenty thousand-plus men was practically their entire reserve, so their striking power was actually quite decent.

Before the new year, Zhe Congyuan had led his troops to take Shenchi, Xincheng, Loufan Pass, and other places in quick succession, but once he reached the walls of Shuozhou, his advance stalled.

This force was not, by Zhou state standards, any kind of elite, and their equipment was not even worth mentioning — they were a completely different matter from the Zhou imperial guards. It was only north of Dai that their combat strength counted as relatively good.

Moreover, the Khitans inside Shuozhou proved unexpectedly tenacious. Lacking siege weapons, Zhe Congyuan could only keep sweeping the Khitan estates outside the city that had been relocated there to control the region.

At the same time, although the Khitan troops from Datong did not dare engage the Zhou army, they were cavalry and had never left the vicinity of Shuozhou, and Zhe Congyuan lacked the strength to drive them off.

After New Year's Day had passed, a cavalry force suddenly broke through from Yanmen Pass north of Dai and penetrated to a point some ten-odd li outside Shuozhou. Though it numbered only a few hundred men, it was already an extremely dangerous signal.

Because this cavalry was not Liu Zhiyuan's Hedong cavalry or Tuyuhun cavalry, but Khitan cavalry.

If Khitan cavalry could come out through Yanmen Pass, there was only one possibility: Liu Zhiyuan had permitted it. They had come to fight, not to observe.

Zhe Congyuan knew in his heart that Liu Zhiyuan had most likely sent men to frighten him into withdrawing.

But Zhe Congyuan did not dare gamble. For the safety of these twenty thousand-plus troops, he could only decisively choose to retreat.

Although this meant the cities taken earlier were basically all lost again, the objective of Zhe Congyuan, or rather of Zhang Zhao, had already been achieved.

That objective was to make the local powers of Xiasui and the Fu-Lin region thoroughly branded with the mark of Great Zhou, and incidentally to test their mobilization capacity.

Liu Zhiyuan was in fact not far away, watching as the Zhou army under Zhe Congyuan withdrew through the drifting snowflakes. His hands gripped the reins tightly, and his dark, weathered face was covered in frost.

The Datong Army, Zhe Congyuan of Fuzhou, and Yang Hongxin of Linzhou should have been forces he could rely on, yet because of a string of mistakes and misunderstandings, they had ended up being pushed toward Zhang Zhao.

If he had those twenty thousand-plus troops in hand, it would never have come to this — nearly three months now, and the Hedong troops still held only the Hebei prefectures and counties on the side near the Taihang Mountains.

Others might fear Liu Zhiyuan's black face, but Gao Song did not. He wore a fur robe in the unmistakable Khitan style, and his deliberately bare head made his shaven pate all the more conspicuous.

"King of Beiping, the Grand Xiangwen's terms still stand. My Great Khitan cannot cede Yunzhou, but if you will only let my several thousand men return, the four prefectures of Dai, Shuo, Wei, and Yi south of Yunzhou can be handed over to the King of Beiping, and the Han people of those four prefectures may remain as well."

Liu Zhiyuan glanced at the shaven pate on Gao Song's head and could not help a cold laugh. "Yunzhou is Chinese territory. To speak of ceding it only invites ridicule!"

Gao Song's face showed an utterly unconcerned expression. "Ceded or returned, we people beyond the frontier care nothing for such words. But Yunzhou truly cannot be given.

Because the Grand Xiangwen and the others wish to set up the Eastern Dan King's eldest son, Wuyu, as Son of Heaven. Without Yunzhou, we would have no way to resist the Emperor's younger brother Yelu Lihu, as the King of Beiping well knows.

If the Great King insists that we return Yunzhou, then we might as well simply submit to the Emperor's younger brother Lihu."

It turned out that after Yelu Wuzhi and the others returned north, they had gathered up the remnants of their defeated troops along the way. Although they were constantly attacked by the Han people of Hebei, because Zhang Zhao had not sent a large force in pursuit, they had ultimately escaped back to Youzhou.

After joining up with the several thousand garrison troops in Youzhou, they had over ten thousand men under arms.

Together they acclaimed Yelu Bei's eldest son, Yelu Ruan, as emperor, and held Youzhou, Yunzhou, and the surrounding areas, repeatedly showing an inclination to cooperate with Liu Zhiyuan.

As for why they would still acclaim Yelu Ruan at such a moment, they had no other choice.

Who could blame them? The cruelty of Shulu Ping and her son Yelu Lihu terrified even the Khitans themselves.

One must know that back then, before Yelu Abaoji's coffin, this Empress Dowager had dared to force his ministers to be buried alive with him.

At the time, the Han minister Zhao Siwen asked her why she, the empress, did not join the burial. Shulu Ping immediately declared, "It is not that I do not wish to go underground to follow the late emperor, but my sons are young and weak, and the state has no master. I cannot go!"

She then cut off her own right wrist with her own hand and, with perfect composure, sent it into Yelu Abaoji's coffin as a substitute burial offering.

Such ruthlessness! No, one should say such viciousness, cowed everyone, and so she earned the nickname "the Wrist-Severing Empress Dowager."

And her son Yelu Lihu was even more savage and cruel than Shulu Ping, and his wits were none too sharp either. All he knew was killing for pleasure, and he did not look at all like a ruler of men.

If Yelu Wuzhi and the others simply went back like this, they would certainly be beheaded themselves and their tribes swallowed up.

Because Shulu Ping and her son Yelu Lihu no longer needed them. Only by swallowing their tribes and wiping out all those close to Yelu Deguang could this mother and son firmly control the Khitan.

So for the sake of their own safety and power, the Khitan officers and soldiers returning from crushing defeat collectively acclaimed Yelu Ruan.

And they hoped that Gao Song's force of seven thousand would go join them. With twenty thousand men, they could then barely hold their own against Shulu Ping and her son.

Liu Zhiyuan weighed the matter for a long time. He did not quite believe that without Yunzhou, Yelu Wuzhi and the others would submit to Shulu Ping, but he had no capital to gamble with now, and could only turn back to persuade Gao Song.

"You, Gao Mouhan, are no Khitan. Even if you were, now that even your emperor has died south of the Yellow River, can you still not see the great trend of the world?

The Han are rising and the barbarians declining — this is already inevitable. Why not remain in Hedong, join me in destroying that little brat west of the river, and enjoy the wealth and glory of the Central Plains?"

Gao Song laughed inwardly. You, Liu Zhiyuan, have fewer than fifty thousand men, and their quality is not even as good as the Great Liao army that marched south last year. What makes you think you can defeat the King of Zhou?

But of course he would not say so to his face. "I am already nearing forty. My original children were all killed in Goryeo. If I lose even my children in Liaoyang, I fear my line will end in this life.

Moreover, most of the troops under my command have families beyond the frontier. Their hearts are uneasy and their minds set on returning home. Even if I forced them to stay, I fear they would have little fighting strength left. I beg the Great King to take pity on us foreign barbarians."

Liu Zhiyuan was indeed unwilling to let these several thousand men go, but if he did not let them go, he seemed to have no way to make use of them either.

Yet now Zhang Zhao held the lands south of the Yellow River, and had Guanzhong and the Hexi-Longyou region as a vast rear base. Relying on these few tens of thousands of men in Hedong alone, he truly could not resist!

The Liao envoy at his side, seeing Liu Zhiyuan's expression soften, immediately spoke up to urge him.

"Before I came, my sovereign and the Grand Xiangwen said to me: if the King of Beiping is willing, my sovereign is willing to meet the King of Beiping at Dingzhou.

At that time, if the Great King has other conditions, they can all be discussed face to face. Now that the southern court is growing powerful, our two sides must watch over and help each other all the more!"

With the matter put this way, Liu Zhiyuan could only nod. Dingzhou was now half in Liu Zhiyuan's hands and half in Khitan hands — a suitable place for a meeting.

So he said to the Khitan envoy, "Very well then. Let us set it for one month from now. At that time, I will meet with your sovereign and the Grand Xiangwen in person."

In the Qiande Palace, in the Chongde Hall, Zhang Zhao was listening to reports from Hebei.

This time Liu Zhiyuan seemed to have gained enormous advantages, taking five or six prefectures in Hebei and nearly doubling his territory.

But in Zhang Zhao's eyes, Liu Zhiyuan's expansion had also allowed him to see clearly the Hedong military strength that had previously been shrouded in fog.

Zhang Zhao discovered that Liu Zhiyuan's main force, infantry and cavalry combined, numbered less than thirty thousand, and almost all the rest were cavalry from the Hedong tribal auxiliaries.

With only that much strength, if Zhang Zhao were Liu Zhiyuan, at such an advanced age he would hurry south and surrender to become a hereditary duke or marquis, and be done with it. What was the point of struggling on?

Right now Liu Zhiyuan appeared to hold more than half of Hebei, but it would take only one battle for his true weakness to be exposed.

Without troops, no matter how much territory one occupies, it is all hollow. The overall strength of Hedong was probably far inferior even to that of Meng Shu and the Southern Tang.

While Zhang Zhao was listening to the reports, the old brothers came crowding noisily into the palace.

From Yan Jin and Ma Yaozi to Man Xiong and Dunzhu, plus Murong Xinzhang and Li Cunhui — this was Zhang Zhao's innermost core of military might.

The old brothers had all received hereditary, never-to-be-revoked noble titles, and every one of them was beaming with delight.

But after Zhang Zhao waited for them all to be seated and to drink a few cups of wine, he suddenly let out a sigh.

Ma Yaozi, unaccustomed to the grand commandery-duke crown on his head, touched it and said to Zhang Zhao with soaring heroic spirit.

"Is the Sage worried about the situation in Hebei? Hmph! That Liu Zhiyuan truly has no sense — few troops and scant generals, yet still resisting. For such a wretch who cannot tell good from bad, I beg the Sage to send me to Hebei. With only twenty thousand troops, I will surely capture this bumpkin alive!"

When the others heard this, they immediately grew excited too, and one after another cursed Liu Zhiyuan fiercely, declaring their wish to share the Sage's burdens.

Zhang Zhao waved his hand. "Liu Zhiyuan is dry bones in a grave. I am not worried about that man. Rather, I have just received word from Khotan.

The Persian king Hamid has actually sent troops to ambush and kill Rashid Salman, and he even wants to swallow up Hupen City.

Zhang Bingzhong, lord of the Zhenyuan Kingdom, has colluded with the Tibetan Gugé king Jide Nima Gön, and has also cut off the road to India."

Rashid Salman was an important piece Zhang Zhao had placed northeast of Hupen City (Kabul) to control the trade routes. He had even sent men to the shores near Yanqi to take part in the event that acclaimed Zhang Zhao as Ilkhan, so he could be counted as fairly loyal.

Zhang Bingzhong, lord of the Zhenyuan Kingdom, was Cao Yanmian's maternal uncle. The Zhenyuan Kingdom was an important state Zhang Zhao established after destroying the Indian Shahi.

The original intent had been to use it to control the Indian subcontinent, but after only a few years, Zhang Bingzhong had shut his gates and set himself up independently — he did not even send anyone to offer congratulations on Zhang Zhao's birthday or enthronement.

"Hupen City and India were both won by us in years past at the risk of our lives. Without the Sage's benevolence and trust, the Persian king Hamid and Zhang Bingzhong would long since have lost their heads. How could they still be enjoying wealth and rank?

Since they know nothing of loyalty and righteousness, I beg the Sage to give Bai Congxin five thousand men, and I will go cut off those two traitors' heads and bring them back to the Great King!"

Bai Congxin shouted angrily after hearing this.

At these words, the whole band of old brothers recalled once more the glorious days of Transoxiana, Khorasan, and India, and one after another they too wanted to go deal with Hamid and Zhang Bingzhong.

In the crowd, only Murong Xinzhang lowered his head. Watching Bai Congxin and the others howling with rage, he thought to himself that the hereditary, never-to-be-revoked title of this father of his by convenience might not be so easy to take.

He reckoned he would soon find out what the price was.

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