Chapter 681: Wind Rises Over the Snowy Mountain Peak

The term "Luozhi" has been the subject of much later speculation, but at this time, its meaning was precisely the one later scholars guessed at most often.

That is, Luozhi meant "king of such-and-such a place" in ancient Tibetan (this cannot be confirmed; this book adopts it).

The reason this term would provoke later academic debate is that, several decades from now, a great hero would emerge from this place.

He took over the Zhebu family's leadership of the Liang-Lan Six Valleys tribes, and for the first time after the great decline of the Tibetan btsan-po's authority, he unified the Hehuang and Liang-Lan Six Valleys tribes under a single command.

He secretly brought about the death of Li Jiqian, the War God of Dijinze, laying a solid foundation for the later rise and strength of Gusiluo.

This man was the great Tibetan hero of history, Pan Luozhi.

"Pan" referred to Panzhou, the place his family controlled; historically, Panzhou would eventually merge with Songzhou to be called Songpan.

"Luozhi" meant king of such-and-such a place, so Pan Luozhi roughly meant "King of Panzhou."

Only after Pei Yuan entered Songzhou City did he discover that the ones chiefly pushing this matter were not, as originally stated, the three tribes of Songchang, Misang, and Xianjie.

It was this fat man standing before him, quite robust, with a round, jovial, merchant-like smiling face.

"Langjie Jiangcuo of Sunbo greets the Heavenly Envoy."

When the round-faced fat man Langjie Jiangcuo introduced himself, he looked extremely proud; the somewhat ingratiating smile on his face seemed, at that moment, to become self-important.

Sunbo is actually more accurately translated as Supi; it is a place name, the famous historical Supi Kingdom of Women.

Although Tibetans have no surnames, when Langjie Jiangcuo introduced himself, he deliberately stressed the character "Lang."

If Zhang Zhao were here, he would immediately understand that this Langjie Jiangcuo before him had a very significant background.

For although Tibetans generally have no surnames, the Tibetan Lang clan was one of the six ancestral surnames of the Tibetans, and had even made its way into Tibetan mythology and legend.

This clan originated in the matrilineal clan period; when Songtsen Gampo unified the plateau, the Lang clan was already Tibetan nobility.

Pan Luozhi came from this clan; perhaps the round-faced fat man before him was even Pan Luozhi's grandfather.

Afterward the clan became even more illustrious; during the Northern and Southern Song periods it long held Buddhist authority over the Aba and Ganzi regions, and in the Yuan dynasty it was one of the twelve myriarchies of U-Tsang.

In the Ming dynasty, the court relied on their clan to establish military organizations such as the Songpan Guard; all the way to the Republic, the Lang clan remained a great Tibetan clan.

But it did not matter that Pei Yuan did not know, because someone soon explained it to him.

Standing beside Pei Yuan was a young man wearing an imperial-gift silver-white round-collared robe embroidered with qilin; were it not for his slightly dark-red complexion, you would never associate him with Tibetans.

This man was named Lun Boren, his Tibetan name Garlunbo, from the Qingtang Lunchang Bomi clan that had submitted to Zhang Zhao.

The ancestor of this clan was Tibet's foremost man of ability, the Grand Minister Gar Tongtsen, whom Emperor Taizong of Tang wished to keep in Han territory upon meeting him.

Historically, after Gar Tongtsen's death, his son Lun Qinling and others continued to hold power, until they were overthrown and killed by the btsan-po Tridu Songtsen.

Lun Qinling's son Lun Gongren was forced to surrender to the Tang with seven thousand cavalry, and his descendants completely adopted the Han surname Lun.

Thereafter the Lun surname merged into the Han people; during the reign of Emperor Daizong of Tang, Lun Weixian even served as Grand General of Agile Cavalry and was enfeoffed as Duke of Cheng.

By the time of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, the Tibetan warlord Lun Kongre began fighting another Tibetan warlord, Shang Bipi, in Hehuang and Longyou, while also surrendering to and then rebelling against the Tang court, reducing the people of Hehuang and Longyou to utter misery.

But Lun Kongre did not actually bear the Lun surname; he was falsely claiming it. So Emperor Xuanzong of Tang sent genuine descendants of the Lun family with the Tang army on campaign, retaking three prefectures and seven passes in one stroke and thoroughly crushing Lun Kongre, who had commanded over a hundred thousand troops.

Afterward, thanks to the prestige of their ancestors, part of the Lun family returned to the Hehuang valley and once more became great Tibetan nobles, and the Tang court even provided them with financial support.

However, as the Tang court's strength declined day by day, and the emperors grew worse one after another, the Lun family, originally planted by the Tang court as a foothold on the Qingtang Plateau, began to Tibetanize again.

By the time Zhang Zhao rose to power and the Six Dharma Sect ascended the Qingtang Plateau, the Lun family had already completely degenerated into the Lunchang Bomi clan.

The only fortunate thing was that the Lunchang Bomi family still knew their own origins and still felt attachment to the Han lands and Han culture.

After Zhang Zhao's rise, the Lunchang Bomi clan believed this was an omen that a great dynasty was about to arise, and so decisively chose to Hanicize again; having originally placed "Gar" or the character "Ga" before their names as a surname, they immediately restored the Lun surname.

Historically, it would only be decades later, when Pan Luozhi appeared, that the Lunchang Bomi clan would completely Tibetanize, severing contact with their kinsmen in the Central Plains and becoming fully Tibetan once more.

Once Lun Boren had introduced Langjie Jiangcuo's identity, Pei Yuan finally understood the importance of the man before him.

After the host and guest exchanged pleasantries, Langjie Jiangcuo did not introduce the dozens of chieftains and headmen behind him to Pei Yuan, but instead bade Pei Yuan and the other Heavenly Envoys go rest, saying only that he would hold a welcoming banquet for the Heavenly Envoys outside Songzhou City the next day.

Pei Yuan frowned almost imperceptibly, then immediately resumed his smiling expression, and was led off to rest by serving maids dressed in brightly colored Tibetan jackets and skirts.

After feigning some flirtation with the maid Langjie Jiangcuo had sent to attend him, Pei Yuan immediately ordered someone to summon Li Cunhui.

Li Cunhui was dressed in casual clothes and looked flushed, as though he had just been engaged in vigorous activity.

Pei Yuan smiled and thought nothing of it; in Shu, Li Cunhui, as the Emperor's adopted son watched by all and a famed general of the Great Zhou, could only behave with strict propriety, but now things were different, and of course he had to seize the time to enjoy himself.

"Lord Pei wishes to ask where the eminent monks of the Six Dharma Sect who came with us are, does he not?

Less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea after we arrived at the post station, they were taken away — reportedly to select a site for building a temple."

Li Cunhui directly answered the question Pei Yuan wanted to ask before Pei Yuan could ask it, and Pei Yuan raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"How does the Duke of Su know this so clearly?"

Li Cunhui rubbed his somewhat stiff waist and chuckled.

"The little Tibetan lass who attended me was actually a noble daughter of the Xianjie clan of the Western Qiang.

Someone from the Xianjie clan came and said that, having heard I am the adopted son of the Supreme Heaven, a Jialan descended to guard the Supreme Heaven's side, they hoped I could leave their Xianjie clan a child with a Buddhist affinity."

Pei Yuan's eyes suddenly widened, and for a moment he did not know what to feel.

He had originally not much liked Zhang Zhao's identity as the Supreme Heaven, but now that he had arrived on the Qingtang Plateau, he suddenly realized that no court Heavenly Envoy, no armored cavalry, was as effective as the title of Supreme Heaven.

Li Cunhui looked at Pei Yuan and said gravely, "Songzhou, Fuzhou, and the like are extremely high in elevation; when people from the plains go up into the mountains, they easily contract the miasma sickness. This is why Lord Dao and the dozens of soldiers who had to turn back all suffered from it.

With this advantage of terrain and climate, even at the height of the Great Dynasty's power, it still could not thoroughly defeat the Tibetans.

Our Great Zhou's strength today is not even one ten-thousandth of the Great Dynasty at its height; military force is certainly insufficient to overawe this place.

But fortunately we hold a sharp weapon like the Six Dharma Sect; Lord Pei should make good use of it."

Pei Yuan had not expected that beneath Li Cunhui's seemingly rough exterior lay such a subtle and politically astute mind.

This showed that, after all, he was a man who had once competed with Murong Xinzhang, and he did possess considerable ability.

Pei Yuan nodded, gave the matter some serious thought, and had to admit that what Li Cunhui said made a great deal of sense.

Songzhou was indeed as Li Cunhui described: not only extremely high in elevation and difficult of access, but also afflicted with the miasma sickness.

The Great Dynasty had only controlled it for a time at its height; the difficulty of campaigning here lay not in the number of troops, but in the natural defenses.

Moreover, there were very few Han people here, making stable rule difficult; even if one defeated them once, as soon as the garrison was slightly reduced, they would rebel again.

Seen in this light, using the Six Dharma Sect as a bond to link this place with the Central Plains court is probably far more effective than pure military force.

Pei Yuan had to admit as well that, when it came to controlling such borderlands, the Six Dharma Sect far surpassed the doctrines of Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, and Daoism.

"Your Majesty is truly a sage sovereign! To have thought of using the Six Dharma Sect for the purpose of winning over distant peoples."

Pei Yuan exclaimed with feigned admiration, though in truth this method was nothing new.

In the days of the Wu Zhou period, the Great Sage Empress Dowager built the Great Cloud Temple and the Qieli Great Temple in the Western Regions, dispatched monk-officials from the Central Plains to preside over the Western Regions, renamed Luoyang the Divine Capital, and vigorously promoted Buddhism in the Divine Capital.

It was all an effort to use Buddhism as a bond to firmly control Anxi, Beiting, and even Qingtang and the lands beyond the river.

It is only that Sage Zhang has done it more skillfully than the Great Sage Empress Dowager, and his point of leverage is more secure.

After all, during the Wu Zhou period, Buddhism and the Great Sage Empress Dowager were not entirely of one mind.

Moreover, her way of vigorously promoting Buddhism caused it to expand rapidly across the whole realm, striking at folk beliefs that had endured for a thousand years, and wasting vast sums of money besides.

But the Six Dharma Sect is different. Sage Zhang is not only the sect's sole living deity, the Six Dharma Sect can be said to be held entirely in Sage Zhang's hand, and it has no need to enter the Central Plains or build temples across the realm.

This method is countless times more brilliant than that of the Great Sage Empress Dowager Zetian!

At this thought, Pei Yuan's mind suddenly opened wide, and he began to feel that he needed to study the scriptures of the Six Dharma Sect in depth.

Then, within the framework of the Six Dharma Sect, he would pack in more of the thought of Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, and Daoism, deeply fusing it with Confucian teachings of moral transformation, until it became a sharp tool for the civilizing and integrating of foreign peoples through Chinese culture.

As for the three prefectures of Song, Wei, and Fu, Pei Yuan had originally intended to press them with a great show of force now and make them submit to the court.

But after hearing Li Cunhui's words, Pei Yuan realized that perhaps the best approach for the moment was not to demand their submission at once, but first to establish firm ties and bonds through the Six Dharma Sect.

Perhaps he could also suggest that the court, while appointing local chieftains and headmen as native officials, dispatch eminent monks of the Six Dharma Sect to serve as monk-officials there.

Langjie Jiangcuo was standing at the foot of the Min Mountains when a young woman in a multicolored Tibetan robe, riding a highland long-haired horse, came up to him scattering peals of silvery laughter.

"Father, that vixen from the Xianjie family says the heavenly envoy from the Tang court and the adopted son of Wushangtian have both slept with their sisters."

Langjie Jiangcuo shot a hard glare at the pouting girl before him, but did not scold her. "Did the heavenly envoy and Jialan show no displeasure at all? Did they get angry?"

The girl shook her head. "Langyi asked everyone. They all said the heavenly envoy and Jialan were very happy. They not only enjoyed themselves with the Xianjie women, but also jested with the serving girls. Even their iron-armored warriors ate meat and drank wine without any wariness."

At these words, Lunbo Ren, who had slipped away from the heavenly envoy's party at some point and was now at Langjie Jiangcuo's side, said with a smile.

"Now does Uncle believe it? These Tang officials are different. The Great Zhou of the Han lands is also different from before, because it was founded by Wushangtian.

Wushangtian arose from Dunhuang, where the Dharma gathers. Wushangtian's family, like us, once lived in the same circumstances. We were all once Tibetans.

So Wushangtian knows what we want. Since Wushangtian received the Buddha's enlightenment on Vulture Peak, he also knows what he should give us."

Had Zhang Zhao heard these words, he would truly have broken out in a cold sweat, because he had never once thought the way Lunbo Ren described.

This was in fact the sudden flash of inspiration of the Six Dharma Sect's eminent monk, Li Cunhui, combined with Pei Yuan's swift decision-making.

A normal smile finally appeared on Langjie Jiangcuo's plump face. He looked at Lunbo Ren and said, "My dear nephew, do you think Wushangtian can support our ideas?"

A devout expression suddenly appeared on Lunbo Ren's face. "Uncle, Wushangtian is all-knowing, and his benevolence shelters all devout believers.

As long as we offer up our true hearts, would he fail to help his own followers and instead help those devils and heretics?"

"That is the truth of it." The flesh of Langjie Jiangcuo's plump face twitched slightly, and he hurriedly made his own expression devout as well, even intoning a Buddhist invocation before speaking.

"But how are we to let Wushangtian know of our devotion?"

Lunbo Ren glanced at Langyi, who was somewhat dark-skinned but quite beautiful.

"Wushangtian will soon escort the coffin of Great King Cao of Shazhou back to his homeland. My father is preparing to go to Liangzhou in person to pay his respects, and will bring along the most beautiful flower of our Lun family and our bravest warriors.

If Uncle can bring the most beautiful flower of the Lang clan, Langyi Jianmu, and the bravest warriors of Songzhou, and come with us to Liangzhou, then Wushangtian will know the devotion of both our families."

"Truly? Can Langyi become one of Wushangtian's close attendants? Like Jiamusa entering Luoxie, bringing peace and bountiful harvests to the high plateau."

Before Langjie Jiangcuo could speak, Langyi's face flushed red, and she could not help crying out with excitement.

Jiamusa is the Tibetans' honorific for Princess Wencheng, meaning the Han Maiden Bodhisattva.

Hearing this, Langjie Jiangcuo could not help but give a bitter smile. "Wushangtian is indeed a sage like Emperor Taizong, but your father is no Tibetans btsanpo."

Lunbo Ren's eyes darted about. "If, when we meet tomorrow, the court's envoy can invite us to the Western Capital, Chengliang Prefecture, to pay our respects to Wushangtian, then it will further prove that Wushangtian's benevolence shelters us believers."

Langjie Jiangcuo fell silent for a moment. He knew Lunbo Ren was sounding him out, confirming whether he truly dared, and whether he had the will, to go to Liangzhou Prefecture and pay his respects in person.

After a few breaths in which the very air seemed to freeze, Langjie Jiangcuo suddenly patted his leather robe, struck a vigorous pose, and said to Lunbo Ren with a chuckle.

"If that is the case, then although Langjie Jiangcuo has begun to age, he at least still has the strength to gallop to Liangzhou."

With that, Langjie Jiangcuo beckoned over some minor headmen who had been following at a distance.

"Go! Pick the most beautiful flowers of the clan and bring them to Songzhou City, to make merry with Wushangtian's iron-armored warriors! In a dozen or so years, every tribe will have a few more strong warriors."

Seeing that Langjie Jiangcuo had finally made his decision, Lunbo Ren's face was wreathed in smiles.

Two hundred and fifty years. The Lun family, which had once fled in disgrace, would at last return to its homeland.

With Wushangtian, the warriors of Qingtang and the brave sons of the Han lands will all be united, to go forth and spread Wushangtian's benevolence to the four directions.

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