Chapter 60

Yuni City is what the later Republic would call Ruoqiang County, the largest county in the entire Republic, roughly the size of Jiangsu plus Zhejiang, yet its population is small, only a little over eighty thousand, a no-delivery zone among no-delivery zones!

But in this era, Yuni City was actually slightly more accessible and prosperous than in later times.

Because the Southern Silk Road passed through here in those days, and by hosting merchants, selling a few local specialties, and doing a bit of middleman trading each year, the ancient Loulan people, now renamed the Zhongyun people, could still get by.

After the Guiyi Army overthrew the Tibetans, and no one was making trouble along the Hexi Corridor, and the Silk Road had recovered somewhat, Yuni City even enjoyed a small wave of development.

Today Yuni City has more than seven thousand registered inhabitants, almost comparable to later times; one must remember that the Republic's Ruoqiang town has a population of only a little over ten thousand.

The Zhongyun king of this generation was called Sanpoba, a great king elected by the large and small tribes of the surrounding area.

The reason they elected him, apart from his tribe having the largest population, was that he occupied the treasured site of Yuni City. The surrounding tribes all needed to come here to trade goods with one another, and gradually a small system resembling tributary trade took shape.

In other words, the chieftains of the surrounding large and small tribes all had to obey Sanpoba's commands, accept the offices he bestowed, and offer tribute of some cattle, sheep, woolen blankets, millet, wheat, and the like before they could carry out commercial activities in Yuni City.

This generation's Zhongyun king, Sanpoba, was a very talented man, because apart from gathering the nearby tribes, he even knew to pay attention to affairs in the Central Plains, sending tribute from time to time; the very name "Zhongyun Kingdom" was made known through his efforts.

As for why he did this, it was because Sanpoba needed that title to trade with the Central Plains dynasties!

Would you say a Zhongyun tribe sending tribute would receive generous rewards from a Central Plains dynasty, or would the Zhongyun Kingdom receive even greater rewards?

Moreover, although the Central Plains had already entered the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and the Emperor's position was often not very secure, always at risk of being pulled down by a Military Governor under him, this also made them all the more eager to receive nominal tribute from all directions!

For the Emperor, having states from east, west, south, and north come to pay tribute was also a political achievement!

Even the historically notorious child-emperor Shi Jingtang, in his mere two or three years on the throne, still sent envoys to the Western Regions and invested the Jin Kingdom as the Kingdom of Khotan!

So the present Zhongyun Kingdom, though its population may not even reach a hundred thousand, besides King Sanpoba, had chancellors, commanders-in-chief, and generals—ha! Several dozen of them!

Some generals might have only a hundred or so men, women, and children under them combined; all these imposing-sounding noble titles existed purely to puff up their prestige and inflate their own worth.

So much so that the Later Jin envoy Gao Juhui's "Record of Khotan" contains a relevant account: "Ten li to the southeast is Sanwei Mountain, said to be where the Sanmiao fled. West across the Duxiang River is Yangguan; west of Shazhou is the Zhongyun tribe.

Their royal tent is at Huluqi... Kuangye and the others traveled west into Zhongyun territory and reached Datun City. The Zhongyun sent four chancellors and thirty-seven commanders-in-chief to await the Jin envoys; Kuangye and the others consoled and instructed them with the imperial edict, and they all bowed facing east."

Just look at how thoroughly they played the part. First they did not let the Later Jin envoys go to Yuni City to see the real situation, but entertained them directly at Datun City, between Dunhuang and Yuni.

Chancellors and commanders-in-chief great and small came, forty-odd of them, received the edict, and even bowed eastward with full ceremony, extremely devout, sending the Later Jin envoys into raptures.

Who would have known that this Zhongyun Kingdom's registered population might only equal that of a first-class county in the Central Plains? Anyone unaware would have thought it a great state of the Western Regions.

But Zhang Zhao was neither Gao Juhui nor Zhang Kuangye, such an angelic envoy of the Later Jin, nor a traveling merchant; he was a villain come to fleece Yuni City. So after resting a day in Loulan City, Zhang Zhao immediately led his men to quicken their pace, bypassing Datun City in the middle, and made straight for Yuni City.

As for the captives, the twenty-odd Canwei women could only be handed off to Fan Runing and the rest of the envoy party to follow slowly behind; these unthreatening weak women and children Zhang Zhao still could not bring himself to cut down with a single blade or abandon by Puchang Lake to die.

But for a captive like Mahashide, there was nothing more to say. Since he had come of his own accord to attack him, he should have foreseen what consequences failure would bring.

So Mahashide and more than thirty others were all hacked to death by Zhang Zhao's blades beside Puchang Lake, leaving only the Karluk man Aluoduochuo and a few of his clansmen to serve as guides.

Desert marching is nothing like the Central Plains; because of the great temperature swings, much of the day is unsuitable for travel. Although the average October temperature is only a few degrees, at the hottest part of noon it can still reach twenty or thirty degrees.

And twenty-odd degrees in the desert is nothing like inland; under the scorching sun and the added effect of the sand, twenty-odd degrees is still extremely hard to traverse.

So they could only move in fits and starts, and because they could not go to Datun City to replenish fresh water, everyone's lips were completely cracked and dry; the captured Aluoduochuo and his companions almost believed Zhang Zhao meant to torment them to death.

"Young lord, Yuni City is here!" In the faint light of early morning, Zhang Zhao was greedily licking the faint trace of moisture on the wet sand; he had to conserve strength and could not dig too deep, so he could only try to work up a little wet sand to quench his thirst.

"Finally! How much farther? Are they on guard?" Zhang Zhao reluctantly tossed the wet sand to the ground.

Yesterday they had passed an oasis without stopping to replenish water, precisely for fear of leaking word of their approach; now they had finally found the place.

"Three li out. Outside the city there is a livestock enclosure; I did not dare get too close!" Ma Yaozi scooped up a handful of wet sand from the pit Zhang Zhao had just dug, greedily sucking at it, and answered without raising his head.

"Three li, not far. The warhorses have all been given enough water; we can be there in half a quarter-hour! This raid must be fast!"

As he spoke, Zhang Zhao grabbed Aluoduochuo and pressed his head down beside his knee. Aluoduochuo and his clansmen had been to Yuni City; this was an important reason Zhang Zhao had spared his life.

"Draw the layout of Yuni City for me again. I'm telling you, your clansmen have all drawn it once already; I know what is where. Now it depends on whether you're honest or not!

If you're honest, I'll take you along to make a fortune. If you're not, I'll cut the tendons in your hands and feet and leave you here!"

With his head pinned down, Aluoduochuo could not move, and could only roll his eyes about to show he would be absolutely honest.

Only then did Zhang Zhao release him. Once released, Aluoduochuo began drawing on the wet sand with his finger.

"Tang lord! Yuni City is not large; it stretches out like a long snake, basically laid out along the Ruoqiang River.

Near the riverbank is the livestock enclosure, with many merchants and travelers. These large and small traveling merchants all have guards, sometimes numbering in the hundreds, and they have connections with all sorts of people across Anxi. My lord would do best not to touch them.

Behind the livestock enclosure is the Zhongyun people's settlement, and the Zhongyun king's palace tent is at the northernmost edge, against the mountain!"

Aluoduochuo not only dared not conceal anything, but feared that if he spoke inaccurately or without enough detail Zhang Zhao would use it as an excuse to kill him, so he spoke very carefully.

"What about the walls? How is the guard at the Zhongyun king's palace tent?" Zhang Zhao asked next.

"Nothing much. In many places it's only wooden palisades; with a little work you can ride straight in!" Ma Yaozi said, raising his head, his mouth and beard full of wet sand he had sucked up.

"The Zhongyun king's palace tent is protected by an earthen wall. It's only about four or five chi high, but very thick. Some years ago a band from Kucha had designs on the Zhongyun king, but they failed to break through the wall!

The gate of the great tent must weigh several thousand jin, and it's wrapped in iron plate; it's very hard to push down and not easy to burn!" Aluoduochuo quickly added.

A faint smile lifted the corner of Zhang Zhao's mouth. It seemed this Zhongyun king made his living by thick walls and heavy gates; if his turtle shell could not be cracked, then with only three or two hundred guards, even two or three thousand attackers probably could not harm him.

But alas! He had the misfortune to meet Zhang Zhao. This transmigrator Zhang had several dozen jin of crude black powder; as long as he could rush to the gate and bury it, even if the two- or three-thousand-jin wooden gate could not be blown open, it could certainly be set alight!

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