Chapter 706: The Great Tang Director, Sage Zhang

On the Mid-Autumn Festival, the fifteenth day of the eighth month, the entire western capital, Cheng Tian Liangzhou Prefecture, became a world of flowers and fruit.

Grapes and pomegranates from Anxi and Transoxiana drew the eye like precious gems.

Wind-dried sugar-preserved plums from the Jiangnan Circuit, wind-dried longan from Lingnan.

The big yellow pears of Hebei gleamed golden, the apples of Guanzhong blazed red — just looking at them made one's mouth water.

At this moment, the four gates of Liangzhou Prefecture stood wide open, and every citizen had put on their most splendid clothing.

Tibetans and the various Qiang peoples who had come down from the high mountains, along with the local Han people, piled up bonfires outside the city walls and had been dancing and singing since dusk.

Drum-and-dance troupes from Kucha performed with great energy at each of the four gates.

The foreign dancing girls from Persia and Ningyuan whirled until their skirts flew up, drawing the nearby men to stare at the fair legs beneath their long skirts, wishing they could press their eyeballs right onto them.

The foreign dancing girls did not mind in the least; in their understanding, beauty was a woman's best weapon.

If one lacked a beautiful face, then one had to make use of one's other strengths — if one did not even have that much ability, how could one gain a foothold in this foreign land?

However, a gate-crasher soon arrived: a fat traveling merchant from Hebei, passing through, felt as though his natural gifts had been triggered and his heart itched unbearably. He quickly tightened his belt and, not far from the foreign dancing girls, began whirling at high speed to the drum music.

Cheers rose from all around. The drum music and dancing drew in a great crowd of onlookers, and soon they had all become one swirling mass of dancers in the vicinity.

When thirsty, one drank a mouthful of fine wine passed over by no one knew who, belonging to no one knew whom; when hungry, someone handed over fruit and pastries.

Music and dance are among the best ways to convey feeling. Whether they were merchants from east or west newly arrived in Liangzhou Prefecture, local residents, or the young warriors summoned from afar, every face was alight with a smile from the heart.

Suddenly, a burst of jubilation spread: it turned out the Sage had announced a reward for the common people currently in Liangzhou Prefecture — one hundred cash per person. By presenting one's household register or travel permit, one could exchange it at the government office for a designated voucher worth one hundred cash.

Although this designated voucher could only be used to buy designated goods at merchants designated by the Hexi Chamber of Commerce, one hundred cash was no small sum — it could buy more than twenty jin of mutton.

Long live! Long live! Long live!

The cheers suddenly spread throughout the whole city. Those outsiders who had just arrived in Liangzhou were especially excited, feeling their trip had been worthwhile, having immediately bathed in imperial grace.

The locals of Liangzhou were even more excited, but they forced an air of indifference, using a calm and composed manner to tell these outsiders: the Sage is exceedingly generous, we are often rewarded — this is nothing at all!

With Zhang Zhao throwing out sixty or seventy thousand strings of cash in one grand gesture — well, it was not really sixty or seventy thousand strings, since by now the Hexi Chamber of Commerce was practically Zhang Zhao's private property.

These designated vouchers happened to help him clear out inventory. They looked worth sixty or seventy thousand strings, but the actual cost was only a bit over ten thousand strings.

And with his grand generosity, the wealthy merchants, great households, meritorious officials, temples, and even ordinary peddlers inside and outside Liangzhou began holding big discounts and giveaways.

A fat sheep sold for a little over a hundred cash; Khotan purple wine, originally one string of cash per horn, now sold for only four hundred cash.

The rest — Persian woolen carpets, Arab pearls, Roman olive oil, bay leaves, Indian black sugar, Shu brocade, Jiangnan silk — were also sold off at a rate of three cash for what was worth two, a great clearance sale.

For a time, the men drank themselves dead drunk, the women clutched colorful brocade and silk with faces full of joy, and the children ate until their mouths shone with grease, running about excitedly with bulging bellies to burn off their surplus energy.

Someone set up an arena south of the city, drawing many a stout young man to go and test his skill.

Someone built a stage north of the city and performed "The Supreme Great Sage Subdues Demons and Protects the Dharma," "Attaining the Way at Vulture Peak and Slaying Evil Demons," and "The Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, One Hundred and Eight Generals," drawing the whole city in a frenzy to watch.

Among them, "The Supreme Great Sage Subdues Demons and Protects the Dharma" told the story of Sage Zhang beating all manner of heretics in India who did not revere the Buddha, and then making them weep bitterly and repent.

"Attaining the Way at Vulture Peak and Slaying Evil Demons" told of Sage Zhang, after being enlightened by the Buddha at Vulture Peak, flying up to the ninth heaven to slay all manner of evil demons, restoring purity and peace to the mortal world, and winning the praise of all the people.

"The Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, One Hundred and Eight Generals" told the story of the one hundred and eight founding followers under Sage Zhang.

Zhang Zhao intervened slightly and did not allow them to write about matters concerning the founding followers who still lived, so this collection generally contained only three stories.

The first was called "The Campaign Cut Short Before Victory, Making Men Sigh," and told the story of Huo Sheng'er, the first founding follower to give his life for Zhang Zhao.

It told how he was an Earthly Fiend Star descended to the mortal world, but was secretly harmed by villains: when he descended, he was cast into the wrong womb and also damaged his head, so his days were extremely hard.

Later he was awakened by Sage Zhang, the True Lord Erlang, and followed him on the westward campaign. But because he had been cast into the wrong womb, his cultivation was delayed and his martial skill had not yet recovered; still, he was utterly fearless, and at the Battle of Loulan he routed the bandits, only to fall in battle at the end.

After he died in battle, Sage Zhang, the True Lord Erlang, did not begrudge using his own essence and blood as a guide, raising Huo Sheng'er's spirit tablet into the Zhang family temple of Longshe, so that his soul could finally ascend to the blissful ninth heaven and take his place as the Earthly Fiend Star, the Star of Earthly Valor.

The second was called "Returning to His Place Beyond Poluzhou," and told of Sage Zhang's first hard battle in Anxi: below Poluzhou, with only one hundred founding followers, he held firm against ten thousand iron cavalry of the Karakhanid Satuq.

In this battle, each of the one hundred founding followers fought a hundred men, cutting down the Karakhanids until they threw away their armor. Just as a great victory was at hand, the Karakhanids summoned a sorcerer of the Arab law, who used a magic curse to harm our Sage Zhang.

Luo Fengma, the Star of Heavenly Weeping, as the personal guard protecting Sage Zhang, used his body to block the hidden arrow shot at Sage Zhang.

At the moment of death, Luo Fengma's only worry was for his aged parents, so Zhang Zhao swore an oath to support Luo Fengma's parents in their old age and bury them when they died. Only then did Luo Fengma's soul return to the ninth heaven.

The third was called "Beyond Suyab, Heaven and Earth Weep," and told the story of Qu Wulang.

Among Zhang Zhao's founding followers, this man had originally ranked fourth among the mounted warriors, behind only Bai Congxin, Ma Yaozi, and Ma Shacai. Unrivaled in bow and horse, he was known as Little Luo Cheng.

But at the Battle of Suyab, his warhorse unexpectedly slipped and threw him, and he was finally killed by the swarming Persian infantry.

In this opera, his story was changed: Qu Wulang was handsome in appearance and invincible in bow and horse, and had long since slain the Persians until they trembled with fear. Seeing they could not defeat him, the Persians secretly bribed a traitor to poison his warhorse, and thus he unfortunately fell in battle.

After Sage Zhang heard the news of his death in battle, he did not eat for many days, buried him with his own hands, and swore to make the Persians pay the price.

These three stories can actually be seen as a whole: the characters progress from Huo Sheng'er, an ordinary man one might find among the common people, to Qu Wulang, a mighty man peerless in bow and horse, step by step heightening the sense of immersion.

At the same time, in all three stories, Zhang Zhao's presence is very strong.

In the story of Huo Sheng'er and Zhang Zhao, Zhang Zhao's benevolence is shown. In Luo Fengma's story, Zhang Zhao's trustworthiness and filial devotion are shown. In Qu Wulang's story, Zhang Zhao's righteousness is shown.

The halo placed upon my Sage Zhang is also advanced layer by layer.

When ordinary people see these three stories, besides sighing over the heroes' fates, they can also conjure in their minds the image of a sage lord who is benevolent and righteous to his subordinates, who after their deaths in battle will support their parents and raise their children, who treats his subordinates like his own brothers, and who is stricken with grief when they fall in battle.

Ask any man who fights with his head hanging from his belt: who would not want a sovereign like that?

And there is much more hidden within. For instance, the Thirty-Six Heavenly Spirits and Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends — these are not Buddhist, but Daoist. And Sage Zhang's True Lord Erlang, the Manifest Sage, is also not Buddhist.

This is Zhang Zhao deliberately promoting interaction and even fusion between Buddhism and Daoism, realizing his idea of using Buddhism as the skin while the core carries Chinese culture.

Otherwise, once the Six Dharma Sect grew strong, it might well turn around and bite him. In Zhang Zhao's vision, in the later stages the Six Dharma Sect would even merge with Confucianism, achieving a distinctive Chinese culture with a Buddhist skin and Confucian bones, while also containing Daoist thought.

At the same time, in Qu Wulang's story, there was a traitor inside Suyab, and the blood debt owed by the Persians had not yet been repaid.

This was precisely the loose thread Zhang Zhao left behind, directing hatred toward the Persians and the traitors of Suyab.

This is what is called a triple win! I, Sage Zhang, win three times by myself!

The six tribes of the Dafeichuan, the various Qiang and Tibetans of the eight tribes of the Western Mountains, and the thirty-one East Dai of Songpan Prefecture arrived together.

Zhang Zhao sent the Surveillance Commissioner of Longyou Province to receive them personally, and when they entered the city, he deliberately had them go through the north gate.

At this time, under Zhang Zhao's support, the operatic arts of the Zhang Zhou dynasty had advanced by leaps and bounds.

Before this, the early forms of opera had already appeared, originating in the period of the Five Hus and Sixteen Kingdoms, called canjunxi, performed by multiple actors with relatively complex plots.

This kind of canjunxi had none of the elaborate rules and flashy costumes of Peking opera.

In the end, though Peking opera is called a national treasure and is indeed the great synthesis of Chinese drama, in costume and color it was heavily influenced by the tastes of the Manchu upper nobility — like that slaughterhouse-agricultural-heavy-metal enthusiast, the Old Man of Ten Perfections.

Canjunxi, by contrast, was closer in form to the later errenzhuan of the northeast: it emphasized plot, required comic banter, required dance movements, and required someone to introduce the story through singing and recitation — only the number of performers was far greater than in errenzhuan.

Before Zhang Zhao produced this batch of plays, the more popular religious canjunxi included "The Transformation Text of Maudgalyayana Saving His Mother from the Underworld," the historical "Transformation Text of Wu Zixu," and "Watching the Shu Woman Perform the Zhaojun Transformation," written by Ji Shilao.

These various dramatic forms, created by fusing canjunxi with transformation texts, were the early form of the zaju of the Song and Yuan pleasure quarters and entertainment districts.

Before Zhang Zhao began vigorously promoting them, although they were deeply popular with every class, compared with poetry and song they were still looked down upon — somewhat like later generations' attitude toward social shake dancing and DJ music.

Influenced by this atmosphere, and with the social chaos of the late Tang and Five Dynasties, men of letters did not receive sufficient respect or even regard, and so those willing to create such transformation texts were almost all confined to the lower strata of society.

Their learning was limited, and their breadth of experience was limited too, so what they created was even less acceptable to the upper classes — until Zhang Zhao began vigorously promoting it.

Because Zhang Zhao, coming from a later age, had deeply felt how powerful the impact of cultural products could be. As a post-1980s person washed and scoured by Japanese anime and American blockbusters, before he entered university Zhang Zhao had believed Japan and America were paradise — which shows just how formidable that power was.

So after Zhang Zhao renamed canjunxi as "drama" and transformation texts as "romances,"

in one breath he established theaters for performing drama in more than ten cities — Divine Capital Luoyang, Eastern Capital Kaifeng Prefecture, Jingzhao Chang'an Prefecture, Western Capital Chengtian Liangzhou Prefecture, Northern Capital Shuntian Taiyuan Prefecture, Hebei Zhengding Prefecture, and others — and even wrote scripts with his own hand.

When those above have a taste, those below are sure to imitate it. Just as the whole realm now speaks of loyalty and righteousness, so too did drama begin to flourish because of Zhang Zhao's promotion.

Top literati such as Feng Dao, He Ning, Zhao Ying, Wang Pu, and Xue Juzheng all wrote dramas to cater to the Emperor's tastes, and the status of drama finally soared to the heavens.

Especially in places with rougher folkways like Hexi, Longyou, Shuofang, Ningxia, Hedong, and Hebei, it swept through every class, and correspondingly the quality of plot, costume, and singing-recitation all improved by leaps and bounds.

On the stage to the left, the drama had just reached its climax: a tall, hunched, demon-like sorcerer of the Dashi law was loudly chanting curses.

And in the distance, the actor playing my supreme Sage Zhang was still riding back and forth on a hobbyhorse made of a wooden stick, galloping about slaying enemies.

The audience below the stage was frantic!

Some people shouted wildly for the Sage to be careful; others bellowed for the people around him to go up and protect him.

Still others, common folk dressed as Qiang people, knelt on the ground and muttered prayers, as if cursing that sorcerer of the Dashi law.

Whenever they saw this, the Hu merchants and Hu warriors from the Western Regions all self-consciously used their sleeves to cover the Hu features on their bodies, to avoid getting a beating for no good reason.

Then, amid the eager anticipation of the crowd, the Dashi sorcerer suddenly spat a mouthful of green poison smoke from his mouth, straight at my Great Sage Zhang. Amid a burst of screams, the brawny warrior playing Luo Fengma dashed in front of Zhang Zhao.

His massive body was suddenly struck by the poison, and as he staggered and swayed but refused to fall, he began to sing and recite.

It was nothing more than singing that he was a star spirit descended to earth, unjustly demoted, fortunate to be rescued by the Sage, and vowing to repay his sovereign with death, and so on.

To later generations, this would seem not only slow-paced but heavily padded, and even contrary to common sense.

But at this time, it was tightly plotted and gripping; quite a few people were even moved to tears on the spot by Luo Fengma's sacrifice.

After that, my Sage Zhang came to his senses, shot and killed the Dashi sorcerer with a single arrow, then threw himself down beside Luo Fengma. Only then did Luo Fengma fall to the ground, collapsing into Sage Zhang's arms.

The two began singing back and forth. Luo Fengma, unable to set his mind at ease about his parents far away in Shazhou, opened his mouth and sang:

"I am a star spirit of the heavens, come down to the mortal world to rebuild the state, so that the common people might suffer less oppression, and all the eight directions might return to the holy court's rule. Now the task is unfinished, yet my soul must return beneath the Yellow Springs.

To repay my sovereign's grace, I should have no attachments; I am only ashamed that I have not repaid my parents for bearing and raising me. I know not where my two parents will make their home hereafter."

The actor playing Sage Zhang, hearing this, opened his mouth and sang in reply: "I resent that Karakhanid for his ingratitude, and hate that the Dashi realm would come to ruin our state. This curse should have fallen on me, yet it has cost you your life this day.

All the gods and Buddhas of heaven, guide my good man to the Pure Land to enjoy immortal bliss forever. As for your parents, they shall be clothed in silks and satins and fed delicacies of mountain and sea, as if you yourself were repaying them."

The actors sang above, and the common folk sang along below, sometimes so loudly that the actors' voices could hardly be heard. The waves of sound rose and fell like visible billows surging and rippling.

If one says the people of Hexi and Longyou had few cultural products to enjoy, then the various tribes of the Qingtang Plateau had practically nothing to enjoy at all.

These people entered through the north gate with Zhang Zhou's officials and immediately saw the drama actually being performed, and were at once captivated.

Moreover, they could understand some of it, because by this time Hexi and Longyou had experienced several centuries of back-and-forth between Tang and Tibetans and over a hundred years of Tibetan rule. Even Zhang Zhao's own ancestors had once been Tibetans, and the Tibetan imprint was everywhere.

Reflected in language, the Han speech of Hexi and Longyou was mixed with a great many Tibetan words, and the Tibetan vocabulary contained an astonishing amount of Han speech.

As early as the Zhenyuan years, when Yan Chao held Shazhou, the Tibetan btsanpo Trisong Detsen could already speak fluent Hexi Han speech mixed with Tibetan words.

And the envoys sent by Yan Chao could also use this mixed language to converse with the btsanpo's envoys. Though awkward, it was familiar, and they could communicate six or seven parts in ten.

This was a classic example of the Han and Tibetan peoples fusing with each other through centuries of alliance and conflict. And even if they could not understand, it did not matter — just watching the actors' performances was enough to grasp the general idea.

What was more, my Sage Zhang had long anticipated this situation, and beneath the stage he had stationed a large number of brocade-clad personal guards who spoke Tibetan to act as "kind-hearted people," personally explaining the play to them.

So as soon as these Tibetan and Qiang envoys reached the north city, they were immediately captivated and simply could not move.

The first time it was performed, they still did not quite understand. By the second time, when that Dashi sorcerer was about to cast his spell again, there were already Tibetan and Qiang warriors wanting to climb up and block the magic curse for the supreme Sage themselves.

By the time Luo Fengma gave his life to protect his lord, the whole crowd roared like thunder, and when Sage Zhang promised to support Luo Fengma's parents in his place, no one knew how many people wept.

The officials who had come to receive them had long since been instructed: seeing these Tibetans and Qiang people unable to move, they did not urge them on, but instead watched the play together with them.

A Tibetan man from Songpan Prefecture, watching the end of the drama, when Luo Fengma's parents wore silk and ate meat and lived out their years in comfort, and Sage Zhang fulfilled his promise, was so moved that tears streamed down his face.

Suddenly someone shouted, "Over there they're also performing 'Qu Wulang Loses His Horse Outside Suyab'!"

Immediately after, many people were shouting, "Watch young Luo make it, watch young Luo make it!"

"White horse and silver spear — he's a match for Zhao Zilong!"

"Qu Wulang is amazing — even the Duke of Jiuquan has said he's no match for Qu Wulang!"

At this, the crowd grew completely restless. Langjie Jiangcuo's daughter Langyi was so stirred that her heart itched unbearably; she lightly squeezed her horse's flanks and followed the crowd toward the place where the play was said to be performed.

Langjie Jiangcuo hurriedly sent several guards to follow his daughter Langyi and protect her safety.

Who would have thought that his guards had never seen such a scene before, and had long since been utterly entranced.

One must know that on the Qingtang Plateau, the population of their Songpan Prefecture's thirty-one dongdai territories was not even as large as the city of Liangzhou now, and they had long wanted to go see the excitement.

Now, seeing Langjie Jiangcuo wave his hand, several dozen guards surged out with a roar, every one of them scrambling to escort Langyi — but in truth they all wanted to see the excitement.

In the end, even leaders like Langjie Jiangcuo and Su Shangzhi could not resist drifting along with the crowd.

Watching plays, viewing the various lantern displays, eating fine food, drinking fine wine, competing in dance with strangers, and also competing in archery, boxing, and listening to transformation texts — these entertainments completely dazzled the Tibetans and Qiang visitors.

They felt as if they were in paradise, and today's joy would be forever imprinted on their minds.

In this supremely lively and joyous city, everyone was incomparably happy. Compared with the struggles of the Qingtang Plateau and the two centuries of chaos in the Central Plains, this truly was no different from paradise.

Many years later, the people of Chengtian Liangzhou Prefecture still told the tale: at that year's Mid-Autumn Festival, a nobleman from Songpan Prefecture got drunk, and when he was found, he was in the stable of an inn, hugging someone's young mare and dancing with it!

(End of Chapter)

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