Chapter 690: Solid and Not Solid

For Tianshui Prefecture, this was an exciting and unforgettable day.

Before this, although Hexi and Longyou were the lands where the Emperor had risen, Zhang Zhao had actually not spent much time in Hexi and Longyou.

Liangzhou, Lanzhou, and other places had had him for around ten years or so; the rest, like Hezhou and Weizhou, had only had six or seven years.

Many of the common people who did not belong to the old Guiyi Army or the Liang-Lan Liugu Tribes could be said to have been pulled, muddle-headed, into this regional power that Zhang Zhao had built, and then inexplicably become trusted confidants of the Emperor in the land of the dragon's rise.

This time was still too short. Even a bandit group like the Manchu Qing had needed two generations and several decades of grinding before it formed a group with such strong cohesion.

Zhang Zhao's rise seemed slow, but in reality it was still too fast.

Compared to similar cases in history, Zhang Zhao should only have been the first generation laying the foundation; it should have taken until his son's or even grandson's generation to reach the current situation.

The reason he could succeed now was, first, that he held the advantage of a transmigrator's perspective.

Second, he benefited from the prestige of his great-grandfather Zhang Yichao. Within eighty years, the Guiyi Army had twice entered Liangzhou; although it had declined afterward, Cao Yijin had again crushed the Ganzhou Uyghurs twenty years ago, so its authority could still be said to remain.

Third was something even Zhang Zhao himself had not taken very seriously: the Six Dharma Sect and his identity as the Silver Wheel Holy King of Buddhism, which had unexpectedly cut into the crucial moment when Tibetan Buddhism, after Langdarma's persecution of Buddhism, was in the darkness before dawn, and had made him a savior-like existence for the entire Buddhist world of the Qingtang Plateau.

Historically, the revival of Buddhism on the Qingtang Plateau had been accomplished in succession by the Ngari region and the Kham snow region where Songpan Prefecture was located.

But now Zhang Zhao, in his muddle-headed way, had used the Six Dharma Sect to guide the crucial process of Buddhism's ascent onto the plateau thirty to fifty years ahead of time.

If one said that Zhang Zhao had united the Guiyi Army, the Liang-Lan Liugu Tribes, and the Wenmo tribes who shared the same circumstances by means of the great cause of returning to the nation,

then the rest of the Tibetans, the various Qiang, the Tangut, and the Uyghurs who could follow Zhang Zhao did so because the Six Dharma Sect had bound them together.

After Zhang Zhao's rise, the core Tibetan regions such as the Hehuang Valley and Dafeichuan by the Western Sea did not see large-scale rebellions; they did not even band together to oppose him. The divine and Buddhist attributes on the Six Dharma Sect and on Zhang Zhao himself had rendered indispensable service.

The last one, of course, was the desire of the various peoples of Hexi and Longyou to reopen the trade routes and their weariness of endless war.

As for reopening the trade routes, there is no need to say more. If things went on like this, Hexi and Longyou would become dead lands. As long as people still wanted to live a decent life, reopening the trade routes was the only option.

And as for being weary of war, to some extent it could be said that the common people of Hexi, Longyou, and even the Qingtang Plateau longed for it even more than the common people of the Central Plains.

Because after the two great empires of the Great Tang and Tibet both collapsed, the warfare in Hexi, Longyou, and Qingtang had been no less than in the Central Plains.

What was more terrifying was that the wars in Hexi, Longyou, and Qingtang were fragmented wars. Large battles of tens of thousands like those in the Central Plains rarely occurred, but battles of dozens or hundreds of men, fought between small families and small tribes, almost never ceased.

In the Central Plains, wars between states would be fought for a few years, and then there would always be a few years of peace.

But this kind of fragmented warfare happened at any time, and one could never see any hope of it stopping.

Before Zhang Zhao unified Hexi and Longyou, even in places like Lanzhou and Shanzhou, bandits were everywhere, and it was common for a small tribe of several hundred people to be wiped out overnight.

In order to survive, people could only attach themselves to the strong, and this attachment came at the price of extreme personal bondage and the loss of everything.

Tibetans were people too. The common people of the various Qiang and Tangut tribes also would not be willing to live forever in a world where the law of the dark forest ran rampant.

Historically, the ones who reopened the trade routes and reunified Hehuang and Hexi were Pan Luozhi and Gusiluo, thirty years later.

Gusiluo in particular reopened the Silk Road, and even specially dispatched troops to escort caravans in trade, establishing dedicated market towns in cities such as Miaochuan and Lingu.

His great camp, Qingtang City — which was Zhang Zhao's former Shanzhou, now the seat of Huangshui Prefecture — leapt to become the center of international trade in the northwest.

History records that within Qingtang City, halls and towers rose majestically, Buddhist temples stood in rows, golden statues of the Buddha gleamed resplendently, foreign merchants thronged, and precious goods piled up like mountains. East of the city, more than seven hundred households of foreign merchants dwelt year-round.

It could be said that the historical Gusiluo was a miniature version of Zhang Zhao, or that the path Zhang Zhao walked was a super-deluxe version of Gusiluo's.

The same divine and Buddhist attributes, the same rise from a lone man, the same awe-inspiring might in all directions.

So when Zhang Zhao rose, the various peoples — except for those slave-owners who held absolute power — almost all followed at the first sign of his approach. They too hoped to live a decent life.

It was just that all of this, while appearing solid, was not very solid.

To say it was solid was because within Hexi and Longyou there were also levels. Zhang Zhao's most core people were the two groups of the Gua-Sha Guiyi Army and the Liang-Lan Liugu Tribes.

A level below were the Wenmo tribes within the broader concept of the Great Liugu Tribes of the Hehuang Valley.

These three groups, among the three million people of Hexi and Longyou, numbered roughly one million one to two hundred thousand, close to half the total population, and were the best equipped. With them present, the foundation of Hexi and Longyou could be held steady.

To say it was not solid was because, apart from these people, the remaining Tibetans, various Qiang, Tangut, and certain great Han clans of Hezhou, Weizhou, Minzhou, and other prefectures had all been pulled in muddle-headed, just as described above, and then in less than ten years had become the Emperor's trusted confidants at lightning speed.

They had not quite adapted to this new identity, and still felt a sense of unreality toward the Emperor, as if he were both near and far.

The feeling was like this: you were originally a 996 wage slave, and suddenly one day the company boss took a liking to you, quickly made you a trusted confidant, and within a few months you were promoted and given raises, striding to the peak of life.

But in your heart, you did not really understand this benefactor who had promoted you. Of course you knew your fate was tied to this benefactor, and you were willing to work and serve him.

But you never felt quite at ease in your heart, not knowing how long this regard for you would last, or whether one day you would suddenly get a phone call and this good life would come to an abrupt end.

By the same logic, these people of Hexi and Longyou who were not from the Guiyi Army, the Liang-Lan Liugu Tribes, or the Hehuang tribes had exactly this feeling.

When the Emperor had been in Hexi, he had not often made tours of these places anyway. Now that he had entered the dazzling world of the Central Plains, would he forget them?

After staying long in the Central Plains, would he forget them and let them become once more the kind of existence that pigs disdained and dogs did not love?

This lack of solidity came from exactly here.

Now, of the palace guard personal troops and imperial guards that Zhang Zhao had drawn away, more than sixty-five percent were brave warriors from the Guiyi Army, the Liang-Lan Liugu Tribes, and the Hehuang tribes.

They had originally made up less than half the total population. After large numbers of them were drawn away, the population structure of Hexi and Longyou would quickly tilt heavily toward the other side, and as time passed, instability would indeed appear.

This was also the second reason Zhang Zhao had to return to Hexi and Longyou, besides escorting Cao Yijin's coffin back to his hometown.

He had come back to show that although the Emperor had entered the Central Plains and was about to become lord of all under heaven, the ones he valued and took as trusted confidants still had to be you. You are all the Emperor's treasures. Do not overthink it; just support the Emperor well.

Sure enough, before even a day had passed, the news that the Emperor had accepted gifts from his subjects at Tianshui Prefecture, rewarded his most loyal and brave warriors, and rewarded his most beautiful flowers, spread like a gust of wind through Longxi, Xiangwu, Weiyuan, Minzhou, Lintao, and other places near Tianshui Prefecture.

Every day, hundreds of brave warriors riding warhorses, carrying bows and spears, entered Tianshui Prefecture.

As for the gifts they brought the Emperor, those who had only hunted a few rabbits were mocked before they even reached the city of Tianshui Prefecture, until they could not bear it and threw away the game in their hands.

"You're way too lame! You should at least bag a Mongolian gazelle or a muntjac to have the face to present it!"

As for the higher-grade ones, of course nothing beat tiger skins, bear skins, leopard skins, and the like.

Every day, outside his traveling palace in Tianshui Prefecture, a great ring of all kinds of game and mountain delicacies piled up.

Zhao Rongniang, who loved furs the most, was so happy she could not close her mouth, immersed all day in the joy of processing all kinds of animal pelts.

Zhang Zhao even found large quantities of snow leopard pelts among these furs. In later generations, this would certainly have meant prison food until you were buried.

A clanging din of bronze gongs mixed with drumbeats rang out, along with noisy cheers and startled cries. The moment Zhang Xiancun heard the sound, he immediately ran over and woke Zhang Zhao, who was taking an afternoon nap.

Zhang Zhao looked helplessly at this troublesome child. Ever since that day outside Tianshui Prefecture, when he had witnessed the scene of Zhang Zhao commanding ten thousand riders along the Ji River, he had been so excited he could not contain himself, and no one knew what he was so worked up about all day.

But Zhang Zhao then also heard the gongs and drums, and immediately got up. Someone must have brought some rare curiosity.

Sure enough, once Zhang Zhao climbed onto the wall of the traveling palace, he saw the constables of the Tianshui Prefecture government office in their official robes, carrying brass gongs and beating them as they went along the street.

Many of Tianshui Prefecture's residents, along with the warriors of the various tribes and clans who had come to Tianshui Prefecture these past days, spontaneously followed along, running and laughing with great excitement.

And in the middle of these people were two powerfully built men dressed in coarse hemp shirts and dark-blue trousers, with crude head-cloths tied around their heads.

The men were being escorted along as they rode on tall, large horses, and people kept throwing little strips of brightly colored cloth at them, making the two look like rag collectors.

This was a Tibetan custom: when expressing admiration for someone, they liked to throw strips of colorful silk as a sign of respect, which later evolved into the custom of presenting five-colored khata scarves — though white khata were not yet popular at this time.

Suddenly a sky-shaking roar came forth, a sound somewhat like the muffled, deep-throated bellow of a motorcycle engine modified in later ages.

Of course, there were no such things as motorcycles in this era. Just from the way the tall warhorses the two men rode were frightened into frantic neighing, Zhang Zhao knew this was the roar of a tiger.

Interesting. Who had caught a tiger to present to him?

Sure enough, when the crowd reached the outside of the traveling palace, the man on the horse to the left leaped up in a single bound and performed a deep bow toward Zhang Zhao on the wall.

"Li Zun of Longxi and Fan Changgong, having by good fortune captured a great tiger with a white-marked brow, have come to present it to the Sage, and respectfully wish the Sage ten thousand years of long life!"

So it really was a tiger captured alive. That was far more difficult than killing one.

A true warrior, armed with a great shield and long spear, a strong bow and a hard crossbow, needed only a few companions to kill a tiger without much difficulty.

But to capture a tiger alive — and one must remember there were no anesthetics in this age — that was no easy feat!

Zhang Zhao nodded slightly. Tiger-slaying had been praised in every dynasty throughout history, and had always been the most important mark of a warrior.

This was also not the later age when people made a point of protecting rare animals. Moreover, tigers at this time were not particularly rare; on the contrary, they posed a tremendous threat to human production and livelihood.

They did not eat many people, but their threat to large and medium-sized livestock was simply too great.

Zhang Zhao led his officers down from the traveling palace, and the unfortunate tiger that had been captured alive finally appeared before his eyes.

Good heavens — this was no ordinary tiger, but an extremely massive adult male tiger, its coat a riot of brilliant colors, enough to make one's heart tremble just looking at it.

It was bound with hemp ropes as thick as a child's arm and then placed inside an iron cage, unable to move, able only to let out roar after roar.

Zhang Zhao estimated by eye that it weighed at least six hundred jin. The tigers active in Longyou at this time were basically all of the North China tiger type, which would go extinct in later ages; their individuals were not as large as the Manchurian tiger, so reaching over six hundred jin was no small achievement.

Man Xiong looked around once, then ran over and whispered in Zhang Zhao's ear: "It was caught directly, not with a pit trap."

Li Zun grinned. "How could a gift for the Sage be obtained by such filthy methods?

We men of Hexi and Longyou only kept our Han identity because the Sage led us, and righteously returned to the nation. When your servant and Fan Changgong and the other people of Longxi heard that the Sage had arrived at Chang'an Prefecture, we immediately led the picked men of our two clans in pursuit for days on end, and at last captured this great tiger to present to the Sage."

In truth, there was another way to capture a fierce tiger alive: lure the tiger into a pit trap, starve it for five or six days, and only after the tiger was on its last breath go and capture it.

But just from the condition of the tiger that Li Zun and Fan Changgong presented, one could tell it had not been captured with a pit trap — even the wounds on its body were still fresh.

"May I ask how many men of your two clans were dispatched in total to capture this tiger alive?" Zhang Zhao asked curiously.

Before Li Zun could answer, Fan Changgong behind him could no longer contain himself. He cupped his hands and shouted loudly.

"In answer to the Sage: your servants, the Li and Fan clans, dispatched a total of one hundred and thirty picked men into the mountains to search and capture it.

After its tracks were found, the young men of the Li clan led your servant and six warriors of the two clans, all wearing iron armor, and drove it into a cave. In less than two hours we captured it alive, and not one man lost his life!"

A burst of enthusiastic cheering rose from the surroundings. Though it sounded like just a sentence, merely wearing iron armor and being able to force a tiger that could leap and bound through the mountains as if flying into fleeing into what must have been a pre-arranged cave — that was not something ordinary men could accomplish.

But while others cheered, Zhang Zhao was thinking to himself: he had only been gone three years, and already there were great local clans in Longyou capable of sending out over a hundred able-bodied men and possessing six or seven suits of iron armor?

And judging from the speech and bearing of Li Zun and Fan Changgong, both should be from great Han clans of Longxi, and certainly not crude men — at the very least they had read a few books.

Though his mind was occupied with these thoughts, it did not delay the words from Zhang Zhao's mouth. Smiling, he said to Li Zun and Fan Changgong:

"You two brave men have presented such an auspicious sign. Whatever reward you desire, speak freely, and We shall certainly grant it."

The two were overjoyed and immediately prostrated themselves, earnestly pleading: "Your servants desire no reward. We wish only to follow at the Sage's side and serve as his claws and fangs."

To follow at his side and serve as claws and fangs — that meant directly entering the personal army's Left and Right Feathered Forest, Left and Right Golden Guard, Left and Right Dragon Cavalry — the upper six guards — or the Hanshan Capital Guard!

Zhang Zhao laughed heartily. "Rare indeed that you have such ambition. Zhebu Jiashi, set up a drill ground outside the city. We shall personally test the abilities of these two."

Having said this, Zhang Zhao also shouted: "Tomorrow at the end of the Chen hour, in the great drill ground, all warriors of Ours may come and display their skills."

After Zhang Zhao finished speaking, the cheering grew even more fervent. Amid this frenzied, mountain-shaking, sea-roaring din, the terrifying giant tiger, which had appeared highly aggressive out of fear, finally showed a look and manner of shrinking back.

Zhang Zhao, who had been secretly observing the giant tiger the whole time, suddenly had an idea spring to mind. He walked over and whispered in Zhang Liecheng's ear: "Go and summon all those in the army skilled at taming beasts. We have a special use for them."

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