Chapter 67

The Great Tang's Emperor Rang's sixth son, the second daughter of Li Yu, Prince of Hanzhong, Lady Li, Princess of Deqing, married the seventh-generation descendant of Sheng, Prince of Wudu Commandery, Lady Li, Princess Fengxian of the Great Sage of the Golden Kingdom.

This whole string of titles actually refers to one person — a Khotan princess with Li-Tang royal blood.

Emperor Rang was Li Xian, the elder brother of Tang Minghuang Li Longji — the man who was a heaven-sent genius in the first half of his life and a muddle-headed fool in the second.

Li Xian was originally the eldest son by the primary wife of Tang Ruizong Li Dan. To avoid strife within the imperial clan, he yielded the throne to his younger brother Li Longji, sparing the Li-Tang royal house another Xuanwu Gate Incident, and history rates him extremely highly.

After his death, Li Longji was deeply grieved, honored him as emperor, gave him the posthumous title Rang, and history calls him Emperor Rang.

Li Yu, Prince of Hanzhong, was Li Xian's sixth son, and his second daughter was Princess of Deqing. Both of these two figures have only fragmentary records in history, barely appearing in the annals.

But this Lady Li, whose title was apparently Princess of Deqing, married a man of extreme historical renown — the later Sheng, Prince of Wudu Commandery.

If one speaks of the Tang dynasty, there were quite a few foreign "Tang fanboys," but one who could "stan" as hard as Yuchi Sheng, Prince of Wudu Commandery, was absolutely unique.

From the surname Yuchi alone one can tell that this man was formerly the king of Khotan.

Historically, after the An Lushan Rebellion broke out, Yuchi Sheng, who had been perfectly content as his own great king in Anxi, directly tossed the throne to his younger brother Yuchi Yao and personally led five thousand of his kingdom's finest troops across several thousand li to Chang'an to serve the emperor.

During the An Lushan Rebellion, this man went to Shu to pay homage to Xuanzong, and also had an audience with Daizong at Lingwu, staying a full eight years.

During that time, Xuanzong married to him the second daughter of Li Yu, Prince of Hanzhong — the sixth son of Emperor Rang who had followed the imperial retinue into Shu — that is, Lady Li, Princess of Deqing.

After marrying a daughter of the Li-Tang imperial clan, Yuchi Sheng was even less inclined to return to his country. Whether it was that he had taken a fancy to the prosperity of the Central Plains, or that his Tang-worship had gone to his head, he turned a deaf ear even when his younger brother Yuchi Yao sent people to urge him to return and be king, single-mindedly staying in the Central Plains as a loyal subject of the Great Tang.

Later his younger brother Yuchi Yao again demanded that he send his son Yuchi Rui back to inherit the throne, and Yuchi Sheng still refused. He said his younger brother governed the kingdom well, so why should he send his own son back to inherit the throne — better that father and son both remain in Tang, serving as Tang subjects for generations.

One has to say, this man! Truly a talent! Now that is a true fan!

But after the Tang fell and Guanzhong lay in ruins, some of Yuchi Sheng's descendants did return to Khotan. At least in Khotan, life and livelihood were still secure.

Zhang Zhao, soaked through, stepped into the inner palace of the Zhongyun king. The so-called inner palace was in fact just twenty-odd brick-and-tile rooms, only slightly larger than his residence in Shouchang.

But he did not walk into this inner palace alone. At his side were Dunzhu and Bai Congxin, along with twenty-some armored soldiers who still had strength left.

Inside the inner palace, a gaunt woman in a pale-pink high-waisted ruqun, her face painted in the wine-flush style, a small pomegranate-red cherry mouth, delicate little hill-shaped brows, and a water-red huadian on her forehead, was crouching before a low table with splayed legs, smiling brightly as she looked at Zhang Zhao.

"Since when have the men of my Great Tang been so cautious? To meet a mere woman you need armored soldiers at your side? Young lord, why not sit for a while and taste the brewed tea this slave has prepared?"

The woman gently pushed the tea roller in her hand, carefully grinding a lump of tea leaves into powder. The small jars beside her were filled with scallions, ginger, dried dates, tangerine peel, salt, vinegar, and the like.

The tea of this era — ugh! — later generations would find it very hard to stomach.

"A hero indeed! Mingguang armor! This slave has only seen it in illustrations in the lord's books. Only the sons of our Celestial Court can be so mighty!"

The woman raised her head to look at Zhang Zhao, her eyes full of admiration. Zhang Zhao also crouched down in front of her and stared at her.

This was a face typical of a Han woman with Western Regions charm — not as Han-featured as Lady Cao Sanniang — yet she spoke an authentic Guanzhong dialect laced with the pronunciation traits of refined speech, a hallmark of the old Chang'an aristocracy.

"Does the lady take me for the sort who loses his head over a few sweet words? What is a man's gallant bearing compared to his life?

If not for the face you showed of the Prince of Wudu Commandery, I would certainly have first pierced the lady through with a crossbow bolt, then dug three chi into the ground to search."

Toward this woman who claimed to be a seventh-generation descendant of Yuchi Sheng and Princess Deqing, Zhang Zhao held twelve parts of vigilance. Who knew what her status was in this Zhongyun kingdom? Who knew what she wanted?

Whether or not she was a descendant of Yuchi Sheng, whether or not she carried the blood of the Li-Tang royal house, none of it mattered more than the lives of the brothers and sons behind him.

"Why doesn't the lady tell me now where the Zhongyun king Sanpoba is? I would be endlessly grateful!" Zhang Zhao's tone grew impatient.

"Pierce through? How would the young lord pierce this slave through?" The woman stopped the hand grinding the tea leaves and put on a pitiful, delicate look as she gazed at Zhang Zhao.

Unconsciously, a bit of soft, fragrant little tongue flicked across her crimson lower lip, and her body lightly dipped with it. In the swaying, a certain jade bowl that the high-waisted ruqun could not quite contain was more than half exposed!

"Gulp!" The useless Ma Yaozi couldn't help swallowing hard, his eyes rooted in place as if they had grown there.

Zhang Zhao smiled faintly. Was this supposed to be seduction?

Pity it couldn't ensnare his soul. This transmigrator Zhang had long ago been tempered by Teacher Aoi's several gigabytes into total immunity!

Though the woman before him was alluring, compared to those teachers from the neon country with their professionalism and spirit of self-sacrifice, she still fell short!

"One—"

"Two—"

Zhang Zhao began counting. The woman, who had been freely radiating her charms, suddenly changed expression.

Because a black iron hammer reeking heavily of blood was already hanging in midair, and the owner of this black iron hammer was a burly Tibetan who looked like he knew nothing of romance, stinking of sour sweat from head to toe!

"I'm about to count three. If you still don't know what's good for you, I guarantee your head will burst open like a watermelon!

Dunzhu has no interest in a dry stick like you. He likes them over one hundred forty jin!"

Zhang Zhao squeezed out a Feng Yuanzheng-style sinister sneer on his face, his lips curling upward, the word "three" seeming about to leave his mouth at any moment.

Heavy breathing sounded. Dunzhu was actually showing considerable excitement. Perhaps in his view, smashing a porcelain-doll beauty like this into a smashed watermelon with one hammer would be an extremely satisfying thing.

Fear and dread finally appeared on the woman's face. She suddenly realized that the beauty and Li-Tang imperial blood she relied on were useless against two of the three men before her!

And this blind one had actually called her a dry stick? Was there such a slender and graceful dry stick?

"This slave knows where the Zhongyun king will be hiding. I beg the young lord, for the sake of the Great Tang and the Son of Heaven of the Great Sage Golden Kingdom, do not implicate us innocent people!"

In the pitch-black cellar, so dark one could not see one's hand in front of one's face, Sanpoba sat in a roundel-pattern brocade robe, panting heavily.

As the king of a small country easily coveted by others, ever since Sanpoba's great-grandfather, several such cellars had been built in the inner palace of Wuni City, stocked with large stores of water and dry provisions, enough for a dozen or so people to hide for half a month.

This was a very useful method, because ordinary bandits could not occupy Wuni City for long.

Like today's situation, for example — Sanpoba only had to stay in this cellar for a few days, wait for the bandits outside to leave, and he would be the Zhongyun king again.

As for the wealth in the treasure vaults, not to mention that he had several hidden vaults that were not easily found at all, even if they were found, he did not care.

This place was the convergence point of the Southern Silk Road. As long as he remained alive, wealth would quickly gather again.

"Moduo! As long as you protect this king, once the bandits leave, rewards will not be lacking. Don't you fancy the wife of the Left Commander? He's dead now — once we get out, I'll give that woman to you!"

Sanpoba made promises of rank and reward to Moduo, the captain of the guards, who was also panting heavily. At this moment, the relationship between king and guard had undergone a one-hundred-eighty-degree reversal.

"Rest assured, Your Majesty, Moduo is your most loyal subject!"

In the darkness, the loyal subject's voice sounded rather drifting and hollow!

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