Chapter 714: A Good Man Should Go Forth Beyond the Passes

Lu Sanlang moved very fast, because he knew perfectly well that seizing such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was largely a matter of luck, and most of the time it was the kind that vanished in an instant.

According to Yaoluoge Jingyi, after being routed by Lu Sanlang, he had gathered his scattered men along the way, and in the end the force that followed him to Woluoduo numbered over a thousand.

Of these, six or seven hundred of the more able-bodied were directly absorbed by Duosage, leaving him only three or four hundred of the old and weak.

These past days, Duosage had come to trust Yaoluoge Jingyi somewhat, and with his own aunt blowing on the pillow, Duosage allotted three hundred households to Yaoluoge Jingyi and sent him to camp to the west.

In effect, this was making Yaoluoge Jingyi serve as a sentry. With that function in place, Yaoluoge Jingyi could at most conceal his disappearance for no more than five days; beyond five days, someone would report it to Duosage.

And those five days were the critical window for Lu Sanlang to see whether he could lead his men to thoroughly smash, or even capture, Duosage.

So he immediately dispatched ten squads each to the west and south — a hundred messengers in all — to notify Bai Congxin in the west, and to see whether they could make contact with the great army that had marched out of the passes to the south.

Having done all that, Lu Sanlang set about vigorously sweet-talking the mother and son, Yulizi and Batuke.

If he were to tell this pair anything about migrating west, summer lords and Yi subjects, or enfeoffed states, this mother and son of limited experience would certainly take him for a swindler.

To con people like this, you can only work within the bounds of what they know and raise it just a tiny bit; say too much beyond their understanding, and it will most likely backfire.

Lu Sanlang was thoroughly versed in this art. First, he revealed his own identity.

He, Lu Sanlang, was no petty Tang officer with only two or three hundred cavalry under his command, but a commander leading an army of several thousand — a fact that Shimili, whom he had beaten into a panicked rout, could attest to.

Second, he was no marginal Tang officer either, but a member of the Great Zhou's Eastward-Returning Meritorious Faction, the equivalent of a Khagan's personal guard on the steppe.

Even on the relatively isolated steppe, the news that the Great Zhou's Sage Zhang had led ten thousand people eastward had still been a sensational event, and both Yulizi and her son had heard of it.

And Lu Sanlang truly had not lied; it was just that the mother and son could never have imagined what sort of pig-despised, dog-shunned figure this fellow Lu Sanlang was within the Eastward-Returning faction.

Having displayed his extraordinary standing, the next step was to paint a grand picture, and this picture was right before their eyes.

Lu Sanlang promised that as long as Yulizi and her son led the Western Zubu tribe's one thousand households under his command, he could petition the Emperor to grant them the opportunity to pasture in the Great Lake Basin.

The pastureland of this Great Lake Basin belonged to no one else but that unlucky fellow Yaoluoge Jingyi, where he had originally grazed his herds.

Since Yaoluoge Jingyi had said he was willing to go to Liangzhou and become a commoner, then his pastureland could perfectly well be used to reward meritorious subjects!

Beside him, Yaoluoge Jingyi, fighting for his life, added his own promise: as long as Lu Sanlang could help him contact Yaoluoge Jingcun — that is, Cao Yansi — he could help the Western Zubu tribe move to the Great Lake Basin, and could even help bring over the herders who had originally belonged to Yaoluoge Jingyi.

Over a thousand households, seven thousand herders — on the steppe, this was actually no small scale. Many times, when steppe chieftains claimed to hold ten thousand households, in reality it was only six or seven thousand.

And although the Great Lake Basin was slightly more barren than the land west of the Yanran Mountains where the Western Zubu now grazed, the territory was large enough and water was plentiful.

More importantly, there were no powerful tribes there.

Unlike here at the Yanran Mountains, where great tribes of ten-thousand-household scale — the three Northern Zubu tribes, the Dalimi tribe, the Yedugua tribe, and the like — all surrounded them.

Here, the Western Zubu could only barely scrape by, but if they went to the Great Lake Basin, their living space would undoubtedly be far greater.

Yulizi looked at Lu Sanlang. She was quite satisfied with this man, and had taken a liking to him at first sight.

How to describe Lu Sanlang? In looks he was thoroughly ordinary, but he carried a hawk-eyed, wolf-glancing air of a treacherous, ruthless man.

In the Central Plains, this made him thoroughly unlikable, and with his prior record of betraying his own clansmen, he was even less welcome.

But on the steppe, a fellow who looked like a ruthless man from his very face was precisely the sort that set people at ease!

Moreover, Lu Sanlang was four or five years younger than Yulizi, strong of body, no weakling in strength himself, and had neither children nor parents. The matter of having no children in particular greatly satisfied Yulizi, who had a sixteen-year-old son.

"Sanlang, are you truly willing to marry me?"

"Hahaha! How could this be false, Lady Yu? I, Lu Sanlang, will be yours for the rest of my life."

How could he be unwilling? Lu Sanlang laughed heartily.

"But Batuke must change to a Han surname and take mine — Lu. From now on, how about Lu Ketu?"

This was Lu Sanlang's only demand, because he knew that he likely could not have descendants of his own.

For if his body were normal, he, Lu Sanlang, had handled no few women over the years, yet none had ever borne him a son or daughter.

Now he had picked up a son for free. As long as the boy was willing to take the surname Lu and carry on Lu Sanlang's ancestral line, that was better than adopting some random child from outside — to say nothing of a dowry as large as seven thousand herders.

When the time came, he, Lu Sanlang, would go to the Central Plains and recruit a few hundred mountain bandits, outlaws, and soldier-scum who could not make it in Han lands, then together they would head west, conquer a few yellow-haired barbarian tribes, and become king of fifty thousand or even a hundred thousand people. What freedom that would be!

Yulizi gritted her teeth. The man before her suited her too well. She would gamble! She would follow him and fiercely strike at Duosage, the one who always wanted to swallow the Western Zubu tribe and had once tried to force her into marriage.

And so, a fantastical scene unfolded: the women of the Western Zubu tribe began preparing a simple wedding, while the men were almost entirely mobilized, preparing to go fight a great battle.

Lu Sanlang gathered Batuke and the others in the great tent and began calculating. With Yaoluoge Jingyi's intelligence, Lu Sanlang quickly got a clear picture of the internal situation of Duosage, who was entrenched in the Yanran Mountains.

The three Northern Zubu tribes now controlled by Duosage numbered about thirty-five thousand households, roughly two hundred twenty thousand people.

But these people were scattered across the vast grasslands from the Yanran Mountains to Mount Langjuxu, and some even grazed as far away as the Northern Sea.

Therefore, Duosage's own main body was the Kereyid tribe, the principal one among the three Northern Zubu tribes.

If our Sage Zhang were here, he would sigh and remark that the worldlines were converging.

The Kereyid khan Wang Khan was the sworn father of that fierce man Temujin. Without Wang Khan's early support, Temujin would very likely have been killed by the Merkits.

The Kereyid tribe of more than a hundred years later was an extremely important great tribe of the Mongols, and at one time the hegemon with the best hope of unifying the steppe.

Historically, the Kereyid tribe would also come to follow the Church of the East, and therefore some people believed the legendary Prester John was Gurkhan Yelu Dashi, while others believed he was the Kereyid Wang Khan.

But now, the Kereyid tribe was only just beginning to rise, still far from its peak. The whole tribe therefore possessed over fifteen thousand households and could field at least ten thousand cavalry at any time for Duosage to command.

At the same time, the Merkit chieftain Hulubashi, who had come south to meet with Duosage, had also brought three thousand cavalry.

Although Hulubashi had egged on Duosage's son Bayegusi, what he hoped for even more was that by supporting Duosage in raising the banner of resistance against the Six Dharma Sect, he could make Duosage voluntarily cede him a portion of the pastureland north of Wugu Mountain. So for now, he had not yet left.

Apart from this, Duosage could also nominally command the Dalimi tribe and the Yedugua tribe.

These two tribes also grazed around the Yanran Mountains. The former had about eleven thousand households and could field at least eight thousand cavalry; the latter had fourteen or fifteen thousand households and could field around ten thousand cavalry.

In other words, if suddenly attacked, Duosage could gather about ten thousand cavalry within one day, and seventeen or eighteen thousand within two days.

Beyond three days it became dangerous: he could pull out at least forty thousand cavalry, and after five days of maximum mobilization, no fewer than sixty thousand.

Having finished his calculations, Lu Sanlang groaned and collapsed into Yulizi's arms.

"Now everything depends on how fast the imperial armies to the west and south can move.

Within five days, Duosage will discover that Yaoluoge Jingyi is gone. He will certainly be on guard, and at that point he will summon his own cavalry to guard against danger and send scouts everywhere. Once he finds something wrong, he can call up forty to fifty thousand cavalry within three days."

Yulizi did not know the strength of the Zhou army either, so she said, "If Duosage really is allowed to gather forty thousand riders, then it will be very dangerous.

And this is only counting the great tribes. If Duosage is willing to spend his cattle and sheep, he can probably summon over ten thousand more roving riders."

The "roving riders" Yulizi spoke of were the cavalry of small nomadic tribes not counted among the major tribal confederations, along with bands that gathered in various places to work as horse-bandits.

There were quite a few such men on the steppe. When they had nothing else to do, they would often ride hundreds of li to fight in other people's wars in exchange for payment.

Lu Sanlang drew a breath. "Even if Duosage recruits fifty thousand riders, it won't matter. As long as ten thousand elite riders from the court arrive — or if only the very finest are drawn off, quite possibly just five thousand — Duosage can be smashed."

"What worries me most right now is Duosage sensing that something is wrong, while the court's reinforcements cannot fully arrive within ten days. If Duosage retreats early toward the Northern Sea and Lake Buir, then this old man's great merit will simply vanish."

Yang Jiye held his beloved brown steed by the reins in his left hand, while his right hand planted a long spear against the ground for a little extra grip.

Li Cunhui divided the five thousand riders into a front army and a rear army. Zhang Yuanhui's four hundred armored cavalry and Wang Shenqi's six hundred heavy-armored lancers were placed in the rear army, while four thousand light cavalry wearing only ring-mail coats formed the front army.

In the front army, Yang Jiye and Pan Mei served as vanguard commander and deputy vanguard commander, leading one thousand riders to open a road through every mountain and bridge every river they came to.

Mount Dihan and the Southern Mountains were both spurs of the Altai range. The two ranges were essentially connected, rarely trodden by men and lying in a semi-desert state.

The heights were capped with gleaming snow, but below the mountains there was nothing but broken rock. Though there was almost no need to build bridges, the road was very hard going.

Moreover, when crossing such great roadless mountains, men actually had a greater advantage than warhorses.

This meant the soldiers were forced to carry on their own backs the armor and great quantities of fodder and supplies that should have been borne by the warhorses, greatly slowing their advance.

They crossed ridge after ridge, and at last emerged from the bounds of Mount Dihan and the Southern Mountains. Then before them rose another high mountain stretching east to west, its end nowhere in sight.

Pan Mei took out the map and studied it again and again, then said to Yang Jiye, "Commander, this should be East Junji Mountain. Once we cross this mountain, the terrain will become much flatter."

"To the northeast of this mountain lies the site of the Great Tang's old Junji Prefecture. There may well be small tribes nearby. If we can seize some of them, we can make them guide us from the Longle River straight to the old seat of the Anbei Protector-General."

In history, Pan Mei was stripped of authority by the army supervisor Wang Shen and others, and at Chenjiagu Pass he got Yang Jiye killed. He himself was then vilified as the treacherous minister Pan Renmei, bearing a thousand years of infamy.

But in this time and place, Pan Mei would not dare to ruin me, the great Commander Yang.

For Yang Jiye had become one of Sage Zhang's seven adopted sons, raised in the palace from childhood. Together with the little black bear Zhang Liechao, he was regarded as the new dynasty's Wang Zhongsi, or even Huo Qubing.

Pan Mei, by contrast, was only recommended to Zhang Zhao after the Hedong faction had been destroyed and Guo Wei had voluntarily submitted. Though he too was given important duties, he could not remotely compare with Yang Jiye.

Yang Jiye let out a long breath. Crossing Mount Dihan and the Southern Mountains meant the hardest stretch of the journey was over.

Once here, they could pass between East Junji Mountain and Fuyangju Mountain and head for the vicinity of the Great Tang's old Junji Prefecture city to seek guides.

Yang Jiye looked back. Of the one thousand men he had led as the vanguard, only a little over seven hundred had made it this far.

Along the way, many men and horses had been injured in falls on the steep mountain paths. Not only could they not walk, but others had to be left behind to tend them — it could be called bitter beyond measure.

"Find a sheltered spot out of the wind and draw some water. The lads haven't had a mouthful of hot food in days. Today, whatever else, we must get something hot into them before we push on."

Yang Jiye could clearly feel that although they were the elite of the elite, several days of crossing desert and high mountains almost without rest had severely sapped the soldiers' morale. They had to rest now.

So the several hundred riders who had just crossed the Southern Mountains began gathering firewood and drawing water, preparing to rest a while.

Pan Mei personally took a large sack down from his horse's back. Inside the sack were bricks of tea and dried, rock-hard Uyghur beans.

The so-called Uyghur beans were simply peas. Once sun-dried, they kept very well; after soaking, they were convenient for boiling into soup as a vegetable, and warhorses could eat a little of them too. For this reason, Zhang Zhou's army issued quite a lot of dried peas.

Pan Mei and his men had brought very little grain, in order to carry as many weapons and as much horse fodder as possible. Now, seeing Pan Mei haul the sack over, the soldiers immediately crowded around, licking their lips without pause.

Pan Mei tossed several bricks of tea into the big pot they had set up, then added a large quantity of dried peas, and with his short knife hacked off several big chunks of wind-dried cured mutton into the pot.

Finally, under the soldiers' longing gazes, he scooped great lumps of sheep fat from a jar and dropped them in.

With that, a pot of rich, well-salted meat soup, complete with green "vegetables," would be ready in no time.

The soldiers, who had trudged for days over wretched roads gnawing dry flatbread, one after another brought out the white-flour steamed cakes they had been reluctant to waste, and began toasting them over the fire, waiting for the soup to heat so they could eat their fill.

Yang Jiye had finished posting the sentry riders and scooped up a handful of salt-fried soybeans to hold to his warhorse's mouth, when the lookout on the hilltop suddenly raised the red triangular flag signaling that someone was approaching.

In an instant, before he could give the order, the soldiers flung away the steamed cakes in their hands and immediately assembled by squads of ten — one "fire."

Four soldiers helped the fire leader and his deputy don their armor. Of the two archers, one mounted his warhorse as a horse-archer, while the other took up his bow directly and seized a favorable position as a foot-archer.

In just a few breaths, the fire leader and his deputy were armored. The two of them, coordinating with the horse-archer and foot-archer, and at the call of the squad commander, formed a combat group with the twenty finest men of the unit.

Only then did the soldiers behind begin helping one another into armor, leaving a single man to lead the warhorses to a designated spot so the animals would not bolt in fright.

In all, it took no more than half the time needed to drink a cup of tea — under three minutes — for the seven hundred-odd men under Yang Jiye to complete their battle preparations.

At that moment, the distant sentry rider raised the tender-green flag signaling safety.

Yang Jiye was extremely satisfied with his soldiers' performance. To complete battle preparations in the time it took to drink half a cup of tea could not be called unprecedented or unrepeatable, but it was still exceedingly rare.

At the very least, it showed that for now, no one could launch a surprise attack on such a formidable force.

"Commander, the azure-dragon flag — three up, three down — it's our own people coming!" The signalman beside Yang Jiye immediately read off the flag signals.

"Our own people?" Yang Jiye muttered twice. How could there be our own people at a time like this?

Then his heart tightened and he looked at Pan Mei. "Damn it — don't tell me General Bai and Huang Yang'er have already struck the Zubu and stolen our merit out from under us!"

Pan Mei's face went pale. If that were truly so, it would be too bitter to bear. "Commander, if General Bai and the others have already routed the Zubu, then we should continue north and water our horses at the Hanhai!"

Fortunately, when the newcomers drew near, Yang Jiye and Pan Mei learned that they were not messengers from Bai Congxin and Huang Yingda, but men sent out by Lu Sanlang. Guided by Western Zubu herders, they had swiftly made their way to the vicinity of East Junji Mountain.

"Lu Sanlang is about to win great merit!" Yang Jiye's voice trembled. Pan Mei swiftly brought out the battle map, and the officers of squad commander rank and above immediately crowded around.

Pan Mei studied the map for a long while, then suddenly pointed to the Yedugua tribe's location to the east. He drew a deep breath and said, "The messenger has been out for three days already. It's quite possible Duosage is already prepared."

"Commander, we have only seven hundred riders. If we go strike the Kerey tribe, we may well end up alerting the snake by beating the grass."

"They have tens of thousands of riders and more than a hundred thousand people. If they want to move, we couldn't stop them. Better to leave them for the Duke of Su's main force to strike."

"We, meanwhile, should head east with the Western Zubu herders as guides and first launch a surprise attack on the Yedugua tribe. The Yedugua are completely unprepared — one battle and they will fall."

Fine beads of sweat broke out on Yang Jiye's forehead. Pan Mei had not finished speaking, but Yang Jiye understood what he meant.

The Yedugua tribe was the southernmost, and they were not loyal supporters of Duosage — they were wavering.

If they now struck the Yedugua by surprise, killed the diehards in the tribe, and lured them with rich rewards, they might be able to drive this tribe along. Then they would have auxiliary troops.

If seven hundred riders could sweep up two thousand Yedugua cavalry and push north, they could tie down Duosage's Northern Zubu Kerey tribe and keep them from escaping easily.

Over a hundred pairs of eyes turned to Yang Jiye. Whether to reinforce Lu Sanlang or follow Pan Mei's advice and strike the Yedugua tribe — it was for this big head of his to decide.

If anything went wrong, he was the Sage's adopted son! His head was big enough to bear two or three black pots without trouble.

Yang Jiye looked regretfully at the steamed cake he had thrown to the ground, then grinned.

"If we're going to strike the Yedugua tribe, then we must set out at once. A pity the lads didn't get a mouthful of hot food in time."

The soldiers burst into a roar of cheers. That simpleton Yang Guizhong laughed loudly and said, "Eat the hot soup-cakes here, and on the battlefield you'll only get to eat other men's cold dog shit! Commander, give the order!"

"Good!" Yang Jiye roared. "The Dingzi Camp will leave ten riders on fast horses to report the military situation here to the Duke of Su, and leave thirty riders behind to bring up the baggage train slowly.

The rest of you, three horses per man, carrying only one day's rations — eastward! We're going to strike the Yedugua tribe!"

Amid thunderous cheers, the soldiers dipped their ash-caked steamed cakes into the not-yet-boiling meat broth, soaking up a bit of lukewarm liquid, wolfed them down, and then hundreds of riders turned and headed east without a backward glance!

(End of Chapter)

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