Chapter 57: How Could There Be Southern Chen Warriors Here?

"Young Lord! Young Lord!" Zhang Zhao had just rushed to the spot where Ma Yaozi had last thrown his divine fire thunder when he heard Ma Yaozi's loud howling.

Looking closely, he saw the fellow and Dunzhu had jumped onto a section of earthen wall, with a crowd of Uyghur warriors below thrusting at them with blades and spears, while the two of them hacked and hammered back without any courtesy, leaving a floor littered with corpses beneath the wall.

Zhang Zhao did not hesitate. He drew his hengdao saber and charged headlong into the midst of at least several dozen Uyghur warriors. Following Zhang Zhao's charge, Yan Jin, Bai Congxin, Qiongre Duojin, and the brothers Fan Quan and Fan Shun came up right behind him.

These men were all warriors handpicked by Zhang Zhao. Once they plunged into the crowd, with Zhang Zhao as the spearhead, they easily pierced through the Uyghur warriors' formation.

Even in daylight, a side whose battle formation had been pierced through was not far from defeat — let alone at night.

Zhang Zhao pressed forward with all his strength, the steel hengdao saber in his hand unstoppable. Every slash either cut through an opponent's weapon or cleaved through an opponent's armor, and soon few dared to stand in his way.

Relying on the breach he had opened, Yan Jin and Bai Congxin wielded modao glaive glaive glaives on the left, while Qiongre Duojin and Fan Quan and Fan Shun wielded iron hammers and great axes on the right.

They needed no skill — they only had to swing the weapons in their hands with all their might to either side.

There were too many people, all packed into this alley, and no one had anywhere to dodge. No matter how one swung, one was bound to hit someone.

After Zhang Zhao cut down yet another Uyghur warrior wearing a four-panel leather helmet, he suddenly felt the space before him open up. There were no more enemies ahead of him — only a Uyghur noble in a roundel-pattern brocade robe holding a curved saber, trembling uncontrollably.

The brutal slaughter — no, it should be called a one-sided massacre — continued. The Uyghur warriors wore little armor and had been caught by surprise; managing to organize any resistance at all in their haste was already impressive.

"Where do these bandits come from? How dare you attack us! Is the Dagan safe?" Just as Zhang Zhao was about to seize the fellow in the roundel-pattern brocade robe, a great shout suddenly erupted from the end of the alley.

The Dagan Diluo, who had been shivering in terror, suddenly came back to life. With a clang he threw away the curved saber in his hand and fled backward. Fan Quan, beside Zhang Zhao, drew his bow by moonlight and loosed an arrow straight at him.

'Thud!' A cowhide round shield accurately protected Dagan Diluo. Only then did Zhang Zhao see that the ones who had just shouted in fury were a squad of soldiers wearing armor.

Iron helmets, broad neck-guards, long skirt armor — why did this equipment look like infantry armor?

And the shout just now had been in perfectly pronounced Chinese, with an accent much like that of the Dunhuang area. Had Zhang Zhao not known he had transmigrated to the Later Tang period of the Five Dynasties, he would have thought he was in the Great Tang.

It was already 931 — how could there still be an army in infantry armor speaking the Han tongue appearing in the Western Regions?

Countless torches flared alight, and together with the moonlight they fully illuminated this stretch of the alley. Zhang Zhao could now clearly see the squad of iron-armored warriors opposite — they were indeed wearing Tang-style infantry armor, about thirty or forty of them.

The soldiers in the front rank even had modao glaive glaive glaives and crossbows, while those behind had hengdao sabers hanging at their waists. Still others were hurriedly helping one another put on armor, evidently having just scrambled out of bed.

"Is that Chen Huiyao who has come? Do you recognize Zhang Erlang and this suit of mingguang armor?" The panting Zhang Zhong ran over and immediately called out the name of the armored soldier leading the opposing group.

"Young Lord, this man is a descendant of Chen Shuxing, Prince of Yuanling of the Southern Chen. His family has lived in Dunhuang for generations. His great-grandfather was sent by the Grand Guardian to Yizhou as the deputy to help Pugu Jun recover Beiting, and afterward remained in Yizhou." After shouting, Zhang Zhong explained to Zhang Zhao.

It turned out that after the Sui dynasty destroyed the Chen, most of the Southern Chen imperial clan had been relocated to the northwest — that is, to the prefectures of Gua, Sha, Yi, and Xi.

Later, when Chen Chou, the sixth daughter of the last Chen ruler Chen Shubao, won the favor of Emperor Yang of Sui, the Chen imperial clan returned in large numbers to Daxing (Chang'an), but some clan members still remained in the region.

After Zhang Yichao recovered the Hexi Corridor, the Chen family living in Yizhou also rose in arms in response, accepting Zhang Yichao's commission to recover Beiting. Later, however, they chose to follow Pugu Jun and together founded the Gaochang Uyghur state.

At this thought, Zhang Zhao remembered: historically, the Gaoliang River chariot god Zhao the Second had sent envoys to the Gaochang Uyghurs, and it was recorded that he had encountered the Gaochang garrison commander of Yizhou, who claimed the surname Chen, saying his ancestors had held the prefecture since the second year of Kaiyuan of the Tang (714), for several tens of generations, and that Tang-era imperial edicts were still preserved. So it was the very people before him now.

Zhang Zhao suddenly grew interested in Chen Yaohui. The squad of Han warriors opposite had clearly heard the commotion long ago and knew an attack was coming, yet they had not rushed out with only a single saber like the other Uyghur warriors. Instead, they had first let some men don armor, while the rest armored up after reaching the spot, maintaining good order as much as possible amid the chaos.

And it had indeed been effective. Had they come without armor, Zhang Zhao would not have hesitated at all.

He would not have hesitated even if the other side spoke the Han tongue — he would certainly have charged straight through and smashed them. But since they were armored, and had great shields, long spears, and bows and crossbows, Zhang Zhao could not simply swarm forward.

"So it is Young Lord Zhang Erlang before me!" A burly, stalwart man cupped his hands in salute from within the formation, his eyes flashing with faint surprise.

"I hereby pay my respects to the Young Lord! Zhang Zhong was right — dashing and spirited, truly a descendant of heroes!"

'Hiss!' Zhang Zhao drew a cold breath and looked at old Zhang Zhong beside him. This old fellow really was a rat that knew how to dig holes!

He made contact with anyone who had even the slightest connection. Heaven knew how he had gone from Shazhou to Yizhou to contact the Chen family — the two places were not close, and the road was not exactly peaceful.

"Brother Chen, we are all sons of Tang. I have no wish to add to the slaughter, and there is no need for us to meet with blades. Lay down your weapons, and we can talk!"

Zhang Zhao was feeling a bit covetous again. Han folk were too few in the Western Regions, and a family like the Chen with several dozen armored soldiers was a rare addition.

Chen Huiyao opposite understood what Zhang Zhao meant, but his thoughts were not the same as Zhang Zhao's.

The Chen family had lived in Yizhou for several hundred years, and the thousand-odd Han households of Yizhou were still under Uyghur rule.

"I thank the Young Lord for his kindness. I too have no wish to fight the Young Lord. If you would grant us a way out, the Chen family of Yizhou will forever remember the Young Lord's great favor!"

Zhang Zhao's expression grew hesitant. Although Chen Huiyao's men still maintained Han dress and customs, their identification with their Han identity was probably not very strong.

For the Chen family had also been founders of the Gaochang Uyghur regime. Judging from the fact that they could still speak the Han tongue and maintained Tang army organization, the Wumuzhu Khagan of the Gaochang Uyghurs trusted them deeply. With kinsmen in Yizhou as well, they would certainly not leave with him.

Yet Zhang Zhao was unwilling to let the Dagan Diluo behind them go. Setting aside the fact that the fellow had tried to intercept him, his status alone meant the Gaochang Uyghurs would have to produce a large ransom.

But if they fought — not to mention that everyone here was of Tang descent — these thirty or forty armored soldiers would not be easy to deal with. It would be impossible without taking some casualties, and the hundred-odd men under his command were the foundation of his foothold in Khotan; he could not afford to lose them lightly.

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