Chapter 71: A Night of Scenery, Full of Tender Charm

In the Zhongyun King's palace tent, a faint breeze carried fine rain through the window. Inside a fine white gauze canopy woven in the Central Plains, one large hand and one small hand were clasped tightly together.

The gauze canopy swayed gently, a warbling cry rang out, and suddenly a length of mutton-fat white jade rose up in spirals, unwilling to yield—now drawing in, now spreading open, now twining around.

The rain grew heavier and more fierce. In the dim yellow candlelight, a shadow appeared on the wall, its shape shifting constantly.

One moment it was like Guanyin seated upon a lotus throne, eyes closed in deep contemplation; the next it was like an old charcoal-seller straining and roaring as he pushed his ox-cart.

In an instant the faithful maiden thirsted and drank of heaven-sent water; as if in a dream the pious man bent low to probe the hidden depths!

A long, drawn-out sigh came—like the satisfied breath of a drowning man who has finally drawn his first mouthful of air—and all at once everything fell into stillness!

A fair, slender hand stroked Zhang Zhao's broad chest. A flushed face like a crabapple blossom in spring sleep leaned close, and eyes brimming with moisture were filled with satisfaction.

"Is my young lord still not satisfied? I have three serving maids, all beautiful and untouched, more than enough to attend a noble guest!"

Zhang Zhao rubbed the warm, water-smooth fragrant shoulder beside him and slowly shook his head.

"A single night's pleasure would cost them a lifetime. If I plucked such tender blossoms, how could my heart be at ease?

Besides, if one wishes to be lord of a nation, women like those around you should be married off to win over loyal and brave men—not used to curry favor with anyone!"

Li Ruoliu abruptly sat upright, her eyes sparkling as she stared at Zhang Zhao. She bit a sweat-soaked lock of hair between her red lips and only spoke after a long while.

"You really are strange! Is it not only natural for serving maids to attend their master? Why would a person of high station ever need to consider such things?"

But no sooner had the words left her mouth than a boundless, delighted smile suddenly bloomed on Li Ruoliu's face. "Yet hearing you say that, I feel nothing but sweetness in my heart, and a strange sense of pride and admiration besides. How strange! How strange!"

Zhang Zhao leaned back against a brocade cushion, reached out and took Li Ruoliu's fair little hand, and gently shook his head.

"Perhaps I have never been a person of high station at all! In my eyes, all people in this world—whether noble or base—are still people! Living people with joys and sorrows, with those who worry for them and those they long for, with their own futures and fates!"

After quietly savoring this talk of 'people' from Zhang Zhao, Li Ruoliu suddenly, with infinite tenderness, lowered herself onto his chest. Her gaze was hazy as she stroked his lips and nose, her voice seeming to float in midair.

"No! You are a person of high station—more so than any I have ever seen. Because I have seen the way you looked at that wretch. Though I called her a fat white Hu beauty, I must admit she is a far more alluring beauty than I, and a queen of a nation besides.

And yet such a beauty—one you were clearly quite taken with—you were willing to bestow upon a brave warrior under your command.

Sanpoba's one queen and four consorts are all peerless beauties, yet you wanted none of them. When the treasure was brought out—tens of thousands of strings of cash—you did not put a single coin into your own purse, but instead had it all inventoried and registered. A man like you is the true person of high station!"

As she spoke, Li Ruoliu, now plainly stirred with passion, began to move again.

"My grandfather once told me that in this world, there are men who do not look fit to be rulers, but there are also men born to be kings who appear once in five hundred years!"

Not far outside the palace tent, Fan Quan stood in full armor at the gate of the inner palace, spear in hand and bow slung at his side. A little farther in lay the small chamber where Zhang Zhao and Li Ruoliu were entwined.

A gray figure walked slowly over from the distance. Fan Quan swiftly drew the bow hanging at his side, then slowly lowered it again, for he saw who it was.

An armored soldier, likewise fully clad in armor with spear in hand and bow at his side, walked over. It was none other than Yin Yaozi.

"Brother Yin, why aren't you off cuddling some little lass? What brings you here?" Fan Quan asked with a quiet laugh.

Yin Yaozi tossed Fan Quan a leather pouch. Inside was warm honey wine—a fine thing indeed.

"Brother Fan, aren't you also not off dallying with that beauty of yours? Have a drink of honey wine to warm yourself. Don't catch a chill!"

"A lone army deep in enemy territory, wolves on every side—I dare not be careless! There will always be time for tenderness, but if the young lord came to any harm, where would a man like me find a place to settle?"

Fan Quan took a big drink of the honey wine and said with a smile to Yin Yaozi, who nodded in heartfelt agreement.

He and Fan Quan both had martial skill and the courage to risk their lives in battle, but without Zhang Zhao, to whom would they sell these abilities?

Sell them to those nobles in Dunhuang? Ha! Selling themselves to them for three coppers when they were worth two—they might as well go be horse bandits!

Why did their hundred-odd men have such fighting strength now? Why had it never shown in Dunhuang? The reason was right here.

With an enlightened lord—a fair, generous, hopeful lord like Zhang Zhao—of course they would give twelve-tenths of their strength, to carve out a realm for themselves and their descendants.

But without Zhang Zhao, under those high-and-mighty men who treated them like beasts of burden and coarse louts, they would never fight to the death.

When the lord treats a man as a scholar of the realm, the man repays him as a scholar of the realm! This is a truth unchanged through the ages.

In the northern city, in a great mansion that had belonged to a brave warrior of the Zhongyun people, the Left Chief Commander, Yan Jin removed the brocade half-sleeve garment he wore next to his skin, revealing wounds crisscrossing his chest and back.

A fair-skinned beauty knelt before him, cleaning his wounds and applying medicine. She was none other than the former Right Queen of the Zhongyun King.

Yan Jin narrowed his eyes and studied the beauty for a moment. She was absolutely the most beautiful woman he had seen in all his twenty-seven years, and her status was beyond mention—she was a queen of a nation.

The young lord is truly a great ruler! To bestow such a beauty, one of such exalted status!

He had noticed the look in the young lord's eyes—he had clearly been quite fond of this beauty too—yet he had still been able to restrain his inner desire and grant her to him. Only a man of grand vision and great strategy could do such a thing!

Young lord! This life of mine, Yan Jin—I sell it to you!

Yan Jin slowly opened his eyes wider. He saw a few teardrops still lingering at the corners of the beauty's eyes.

"Don't think you've been wronged by following me. My ancestor was a Military Governor of Hexi, a great hero who held the rank of Commander Unequaled in Honor—Yan Kaifu of Taiyuan. If the Great Tang still stood, Sanpoba wouldn't even be fit to kowtow before my ancestor Lord Yan!"

As he spoke, he lifted the beauty's chin. "I too will become Military Governor of Hexi one day, and I too will hold the rank of Commander Unequaled in Honor. I will return to Taiyuan and meet those clansmen I have never seen. You will come to know that following me—following a noble of the Great Tang—is the greatest honor of your life!"

In a tavern in the southern city, Man Xiong crashed through the door with a clatter. Reeking of drink and huffing with rage, he burst in cursing loudly.

"That mother-fucking Ma Yaozi! The dog-fucker barred the door and wouldn't open it no matter what. I just wanted a look at that princess beauty of his, and the mother-fucking dog slave cursed me out!"

When rewards were being distributed in Zhang Zhao's great hall, Man Xiong had been patrolling and keeping order in the southern city with Yin Yaozi, so he had not seen what Sanpoba's queen and consorts looked like.

Now that everyone described them as peerless in heaven and earth, his curiosity had become unbearable. He had wanted to go steal a glance at Ma Yaozi's, but had been driven back by a torrent of abuse from Ma Yaozi.

"What's there to see? Skinny arms, skinny legs, a thin waist, and a small bottom—not good-looking at all! Now this—this is what counts as a woman!"

Dunzhu grinned and voiced his disdain. After two foolish chuckles, he scooped up a stout woman with a thick waist, large bosom, and a bottom like a millstone, and displayed her to Man Xiong. Sure enough, she weighed at least a hundred and forty jin!

Everyone promptly heaped him with scorn—did he really think everyone had the same damn tastes as him?

Hearing Dunzhu's description, Man Xiong felt even more miserable. Though his build was similar to Dunzhu's, he did not like being a battering-ram driver. He preferred them petite and slender.

Still... the petite ones were gone, but he could accept a hundred and forty. A woman was a woman—as long as there was one, he wasn't picky!

Just then, a rather buxom woman happened to be standing outside the tavern door. Man Xiong quickly waved her over.

The woman walked over timidly. Though she was somewhat afraid, for the sake of earning money, she could not afford to care.

"This young lord—by the rules, you must pay first!"

Money? Man Xiong's face fell. The reward money was not small, but Zhang Zhao had only allowed each of them to use one string of cash for now; the rest had been put away in savings.

Man Xiong had just spent some on drink and meat, and had also gotten into a fight with a Khotan warrior and broken the shopkeeper's things, paying a hefty compensation. His single string of cash was nearly gone.

The woman saw that Man Xiong probably had no money, and nimbly retreated back again.

"Motherfucking hell, who's got money to lend me? You all have your little ladies, and this old man wants one too!"

Man Xiong could only stretch out his hand toward his assembled comrades who had come for amusement. No robbing, no raping, no plundering — buying wine, buying meat, even buying a woman all required payment. This was set down by the young lord, and he did not dare act recklessly.

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