Chapter 709: Andong Is Fine and All, but Japan Is Where I Belong

Zhang Zhao said Murong Xinzhang had few usable men in his retinue, but that is not correct.

Take Wang Jing, for instance — the man who urged Murong Xinzhang to accept the investiture and openly become a king.

He was no ordinary man. In history he endured through the late Tang, the Later Liang, the Later Tang, the Later Jin, the Later Han, the Later Zhou, and the early Northern Song — one man spanning the entire Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

In his youth he was bold, free-spirited, and careless of ceremony; after joining the army he was brave and skilled in battle, with outstanding achievements.

When governing a region, he ruled with leniency and cherished the common people. When he left his post as Military Governor of Hezhong, the people's weeping shook the road, and they clung to his stirrups to keep him from leaving.

In history, Wang Jing died of illness in the early Northern Song. Zhao Kuangyin posthumously enfeoffed him as Prince of Qi, with the posthumous name Yuanjing — a rare honor among the warriors of the Five Dynasties.

His son Wang Tingyi and his subordinate general Zhang Jianxiong were also fierce men of their time.

The reason his name was unknown to Zhang Zhao in this timeline was that he was wounded at the great battle of Qicheng.

Before he recovered, the Khitan entered the Central Plains, and amid the upheavals that followed, Wang Jing, convalescing in his hometown, was gradually forgotten.

And after Zhang Zhao revealed that he would enfeoff Murong Xinzhang elsewhere, Princess Yongle asked her third sister — Shi Jingtang's wife — to step in and recruit Wang Jing for Murong Xinzhang.

Besides Wang Jing, while Murong Xinzhang was in Beiping Prefecture he also gained a scholar from Jiaodong, Wang Pu, who presented the "Plan for Pacifying the Frontier." After reading it, the good son was awestruck and kept him at his side as chief strategist.

The scheme of managing Jinzhou and luring the snake from its hole was Wang Pu's masterwork.

In addition, there were Xiang Xun of Huaizhou, Li Hanqiong of Shendu, and Chen Sirang of Lulong as his claws and fangs. These three were no less fierce than Zhang Xibao and Zhang Cheng.

Xiang Xun in particular was a founding general of the Northern Song. In martial skill and command ability, he should be no inferior to Zhang Zhaojie (Ma Shacai) and the like.

The reason these men could be used by Murong Xinzhang was entirely because he, Murong of the White Robe, was loyal, brave, benevolent, and true — his righteousness reaching to the clouds and his fame filling the world.

Without the good son's reputation as a bonus, his sensitive status would have made it very difficult to win over top talents like Wang Jing, Wang Pu, and Xiang Xun.

As for the Hedong and Daibei warriors who were frustrated under the Zhang-Zhou dynasty, even more of them threw in with Murong Xinzhang — Li Jianchong and his sons, Hou Yi, the three sons of Li Decong, and others.

Some contributed men, some money and grain, some weapons and armor — all treating Murong Xinzhang as a pillar to rely on.

At this moment in Shenzhou City, Murong Xinzhang assembled his civil and military officers. He appointed Wang Pu as Chief Clerk of the Overlord's Office of the Prince of Liaoyang, Wang Jing as Marching Marshal of the Overlord's Office, Xiang Xun and Li Hanqiong as Left and Right Chief Inspectors, and Chen Sirang as Troop Commander of the Personal Guard.

Everyone felt their fighting spirit brimming. To them, Murong Xinzhang was no mere Prince of Liaoyang — he was practically the King of Liao!

If things were handled well in the future, holding these thirty-six prefectures of the Andong Province and becoming a powerful military province in the northeast of the realm was not impossible.

At the scene, only Wang Pu and Wang Jing exchanged a glance, both with wry smiles in their eyes.

What Zhang Zhao wanted Murong Xinzhang to do in this Andong Province — others did not know, but the two of them did.

As Murong Xinzhang's twin arms in civil and military affairs, these matters were of course not hidden from them.

"As for Liaoyang Prefecture, I do not intend to go there myself. It will have to be Lord Wang who makes the trip!"

Murong Xinzhang spoke first. His purpose in stopping at Shenzhou and not moving was to force the old Khitan nobles of Liaoyang Prefecture to submit.

These people no longer had the ability to resist, but they still had the ability to make trouble. After all, Murong Xinzhang had not come to plunder and leave — he was here to garrison permanently.

But at present, those who had advanced east with Murong Xinzhang numbered, besides ten thousand elite troops of his own command and twenty thousand Tuyuhun and Ningxia Tangut cavalry, fewer than two hundred thousand common people from various groups.

Among these people, apart from a few civil officials Murong Xinzhang had under the Andong Province administration in Pingzhou, most could not read a single character. Relying on them to control all of Andong was certainly unrealistic, so the cooperation of the old Khitan nobles was still needed.

But as to how that cooperation would work, the two sides were still in constant probing.

Therefore Murong Xinzhang would not enter Liaoyang Prefecture. Once he entered Liaoyang Prefecture, he would be on the back foot, surrounded by old Khitan nobles. To say something cutting — if they secretly found someone to poison Murong Xinzhang, it might well succeed.

And Murong Xinzhang was thinking of more than this. In pacifying all of Andong this time, he naturally had to raise up a new batch of people to become the new elite.

At the very least, the Han people originally captured by the Khitan and made into serfs would naturally be turned over to become masters.

As for the rest of the Khitan and Xi nobles who had once lorded it over others, a great many would certainly be purged.

Otherwise Murong Xinzhang could not produce so much wealth to distribute to those around him. This meant he could not possibly recruit large numbers of old Khitan nobles.

Wang Jing of course understood Murong Xinzhang's meaning. In Andong now, as long as Murong Xinzhang was present, the old Khitan nobles could not stir up any waves. Around Shenzhou there were many Han people; with ten thousand cavalry guarding the vicinity, Murong Xinzhang would be as secure as Mount Tai.

And he, Wang Jing, would naturally have to go play the vicious dog for Great King Murong.

Once he reached Liaoyang, those people would understand: it was not that they could sit and wait for Murong Xinzhang to come cooperate, but that whoever wanted to cooperate, whoever wanted to be a dog, still depended on whether he, Wang Jing, would let them off, and whether Great King Murong would give them the chance.

So Wang Jing cupped his hands. "Great King, then please grant me five thousand cavalry, and I will set out for Liaoyang Prefecture at once."

Murong Xinzhang shook his head. "I cannot give Lord Jing five thousand cavalry. At most I can give three thousand, because the remaining two thousand must go with Xiang Xun to Huanzhou."

Wang Jing understood instantly. Huanzhou (Ji'an in Jilin) was the largest military prefecture near the kingdom of Wang-ruled Goryeo, and historically had been the capital of Goguryeo.

Here also gathered a batch of disaffected men of the Eastern Dan Kingdom, which had a state name but existed in name only.

It seemed Great King Murong was preparing to send Xiang Xun to Huanzhou to stockpile supplies for an attack on Wang-ruled Goryeo while also gathering the remnants of the former Eastern Dan Kingdom and Balhae.

"In that case, I beg the Great King to permit me to recruit a few men in Liaoyang Prefecture for my use." For suppressing Liaoyang Prefecture with only three thousand cavalry, Wang Jing still felt it somewhat difficult.

Murong Xinzhang nodded. He knew Wang Jing wanted to take in a few "dogs" as support, but Murong Xinzhang's dog food was also very limited, so he merely extended two fingers.

"Two at most!"

Wang Jing chuckled. "I thank the Great King. Two will be quite enough."

Then Murong Xinzhang looked at Xiang Xun. "Xiang Xingmin, I give you one battalion of elite troops each from the Fanyang Army and the Andong Garrison, plus one thousand elite Tuyuhun cavalry and three hundred Hengshan Qiang infantry skirmishers. Remember the most important matter I charged you with after you reach Huanzhou."

"I accept the order and will never fail the Great King's trust."

Although Xiang Xun was somewhat baffled by Murong Xinzhang's order to stockpile large quantities of supplies in Huanzhou and build it into a rear base capable of supplying an army of fifty thousand, since the order had been given, he would carry it out without discount.

"Great King, in Yinzhou and Guidezhou there have been incidents of burning people's houses and crops in the fields, and destroying bridges. The patrol commissioners of the two prefectures have sent men to report back, asking how to handle it."

Chen Sirang, Commander of the Personal Guard, said with cupped hands. Yinzhou and Guidezhou were near Shenzhou — the former was the later "big city" Tieling, and the latter the famous coal base Fushun.

Hearing Chen Sirang's report, on the face of our Great King Murong — who at all times presented the image of a bold, generous man who pitied the weak — there suddenly flashed a rare vicious expression. He glared hard at Chen Sirang.

"Does this sort of thing need to be reported? What are the swords and knives in their hands for?"

Chen Sirang hurriedly accepted the order and went out to make arrangements. The other generals also took their leave, and only Wang Pu and Murong Xinzhang remained in the room.

Wang Pu unhurriedly sipped the fine tea brought by the palace maids, mouthful by mouthful, until Murong Xinzhang began to grow restless, and only then gave a faint smile.

"What the Great King worries about is nothing more than that the clamor outside will affect the Sage's trust in the Great King. Then I venture to ask one bold question: this Andong Province is a thousand li of fertile land, and it is where the Great King's ancestors rose to prominence. Does the Great King have any thought of occupying this land and becoming a powerful military province?"

To Wang Pu's surprise, Murong Xinzhang actually slowly nodded.

But just as Wang Pu's heart was about to leap out of his chest, Murong Xinzhang sighed deeply and then spoke.

"To say I have no such thought would be a lie. Japan is a wild and barren land, with the kingdom of Wang-ruled Goryeo in between — how could it compare to the wealth of Andong."

Moreover, the land of Wa lies east of the sea, no less than ten thousand li from here. If Xinzhang goes, I fear he will never see his mother and Your Excellency again!"

As he spoke, Murong Xinzhang waved a serving maid over to pour him a cup of hot tea as well. Only after taking a few sips did he continue.

"Before I, Murong Xinzhang, could even remember, my father was already gone. It was the Sage who raised me, a boy of Xianbei barbarian birth, step by step to the high position I hold today, treating me as his own son. His grace is deep and weighty; not even ten thousand deaths could repay it. This is the fundamental duty of a man!

Outsiders see that I, Murong Xinzhang, crushed the Khitan in only a year and a half, and they flatter me as a second Zhang Wenyuan, who slew Tadun beneath White Wolf Mountain and settled Liaodong in a single battle.

But in truth, as Your Excellency has seen, even after I shattered the Khitan main force, I still did not dare rashly advance on Liaoyang Prefecture. That is because the Khitan are a great state spanning ten thousand li, with a hundred thousand men under arms, fully comparable to the old Goguryeo, and cannot be treated as ordinary barbarians."

At this point, Murong Xinzhang's eyes suddenly shone with a bright, glittering light, as though a mortal had seen a deity descend. His tone shifted from worry and desolation to a fervor tinged with reverence.

"In past years, when the Sage was at the Liangzhou seat in Chengtian, he plainly had the power to seize Guanzhong and overthrow the false Jin in the name of righteousness, yet he held back and never acted.

The civil and military officials did not understand his intent. Even my mother, Consort Cao, a woman of surpassing intelligence, could not fathom why the Sage was waiting.

Until one day, when the Sage had drunk too much wine at my mother's birthday banquet, he took me and Li Cunhui, Li Sanlang, by the hand and said:

'Do you know, my sons, that this Yelu Deguang will surely enter the Central Plains within five years? The reason I have lain hidden in Hexi all this time is precisely to wait for him to march south.

With my strength, if I entered the Central Plains now, even if I could unify it, what I would face in the future would be a flourishing eastern sea state far more terrifying than the Goguryeo of the Sui and Tang eras.

But if I endure a while and wait for Yelu Deguang to make his own mistake, then the Khitan can be settled in a single battle.'

And afterward it proved exactly so. No sooner had the fifth year passed than Yelu Deguang raised troops and invaded south. Even that the Khitan would plunder grain and pasture in the Central Plains, and that the false Jin's generals would rise in resistance — every single thing was foretold."

"Hiss!" Wang Pu could not help drawing a sharp breath. To predict the general course of some matter — that, while extraordinary, was still possible. He, Wang Pu, had that ability in certain respects himself.

But five years in advance, to foretell events five years later, one by one with precision, even the timing broadly accurate — that was hard to believe. Apart from gods and Buddhas, no mortal could likely do it.

Could it be?

Having spoken aloud this astonishment that had perhaps long been buried in his heart, the good son actually felt considerably relieved. He looked at Wang Pu and continued.

"So although it appears that I, Murong Xinzhang, destroyed the Khitan, in truth their defeat had been within the Sage's expectations as early as seven or eight years ago.

Given the Khitan's national strength, had they not entered the Central Plains, had they not delivered themselves to our door to have the greater part of their elite troops slain in one battle, could we have so easily taken control of the entire Andong Province?"

Wang Pu thought it over briefly. The moment he imagined sixty to seventy thousand armored soldiers waiting for them in Liaodong — never mind that Liaoyang Commandery had only twenty to thirty thousand men under it; even with double that number, defeating the Khitan army would depend on timing and terrain. How could they have entered Liaoyang Prefecture so easily?

"Truly impossible! Had Yelu Deguang and the Khitan main force still been present, recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun alone would have been enough to boast of to later generations!"

"Exactly!" Murong Xinzhang gave a bitter laugh. "With a father like this, who is like... no, who IS a god, how would I, Murong Xinzhang, dare entertain any thought I should not have?

And besides, if I were to oppose Your Excellency, how my mother would suffer.

She was widowed not long after her marriage, a widow who endured every hardship to raise me, teaching me to read and understand reason. Now that she has finally found someone to rely on, how could I put my mother in such a dilemma again?"

Hearing Murong Xinzhang speak thus, Wang Pu gave a bitter laugh of his own. He had originally been thinking of whether he could stir Murong Xinzhang to remain in Liaoyang and simply become a King of Liao.

But seeing this now, he could forget it. This Great King Murong did not harbor the slightest will to resist his nominal father, the Shaoming Son of Heaven. He himself had better just go dutifully to the land of Wa and eat fish.

"In that case, your servant has an idea. Does the Sage not wish to display his might across the grasslands and carve stone at Yanran?

Great King, why not immediately lead your elite troops north, sweeping through Yinzhou (Tieling), Tongzhou (Siping), Xinzhou (Changchun), and the other regions, winning over and pacifying the Shiwei and Jurchen peoples of the north, so that they cannot be used by the Khitan's Arm-Severing Empress Dowager, Shulu Ping?

In this way, the Sage will naturally understand the Great King's intentions."

As the saying goes, a hundred words are not worth a single deed. This was indeed the best way for Murong Xinzhang to express his intentions.

Murong Xinzhang was overjoyed at these words. "What Your Excellency says accords perfectly with Xinzhang's own heart. I shall immediately set the troops in order and prepare to march north."

Mount Yanran, known in later ages as the Khangai Mountains of Mongolia, was in the Great Tang period more commonly called the Tian Mountains.

Unlike the boundless desert steppe that later generations imagine, the Mongolian Plateau in fact does have mountains.

The most famous of these are Mount Yanran, lying southwest of the former Great Tang Yanran Protectorate (Ulaanbaatar), and Mount Langjuxu to the northeast.

These two mountains stand diagonally opposite each other, and the land between them — Karakorum and Ulaanbaatar — is the place with the richest water and grass on the entire Mobei Plateau.

The Han-era Zhaoxin City, Dragon City, and Chanyu's Court, the Tang-era Hanhai Protectorate and Yanran Protectorate, and the Great Royal Court of the Zubu during the Liao and Northern Song periods were all located here.

Even in later ages, the vast majority of Mongolia's population lives in this place.

The reason is that on the rather arid Mobei steppe, the snowmelt rivers flowing down from Mount Yanran — such as the Guqie River and the Punu River —

and the Yuwu River and Gonglu River flowing down from Mount Langjuxu are the most important water sources on the entire Mobei steppe.

At the same time, between these two mountains there are also many small valleys and hillocks, which can be used to build cities at strategic points or to shelter from the biting cold winds of the Xianbei wasteland.

The herders of Mobei are not Antarctic penguins; they too greatly fear a world of ice and snow.

Therefore, this stretch of grassland between Mount Yanran and Mount Langjuxu is the final stronghold of the Mobei nomads. Once the Han people fight their way to this place, their doomsday will descend.

Nor are they difficult to find.

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