Chapter 720: If One Cannot Carve Stone, One Can Still Perform the Feng and Shan Sacrifices

One step slow, every step slow — that saying describes me, Sage Zhang.

Southeast of the Yanran Mountains he paid homage to the seventy thousand Han soldiers whom Li Guangli had led to their deaths, erected a stone stele in their memory, and even decided to send men back after the new year to build a temple, then continued north.

Then he encountered the herders of the Yedugu tribe, whom Yang Jiye had thoroughly subdued.

When these steppe herders heard that the Supreme Heaven himself had arrived in person, they were both astonished and overjoyed. Overnight, tens of thousands of herders came with their entire households to the Yedugu tribe's great tent to pay homage — some even prostrated themselves in worship every step of the way from more than ten li off.

Zhang Zhao had no choice but to stay one more day among the Yedugu tribe. During that time he bestowed a purple-gold (bronze) Buddha statue upon a kindly old mother (Riluge's mother), and left behind one dharma-preaching monk and a number of shramanas to help them build a temple there. Only then, guided by the Yedugu herders, did he continue north.

In barely two days, Sage Zhang's great army had advanced swiftly to the main battlefield of this campaign — the site of the former Great Tang Anbei Protectorate city.

But even though he had not come slowly, the fighting was already long over.

Li Cunhui and Yang Jiye, these two "good sons," along with Huang Yingda, who had gone beyond the frontier more than a year earlier, were already waiting for him here.

As for the battle results, they were truly not poor. The Zhou army had only committed Huang Yingda's force of a thousand-odd cavalry plus the five thousand-odd cavalry of the vanguard under Li Cunhui — fewer than seven thousand men in all.

Yet they had broken the three tribes of Yedugu, Dalimi, and the Northern Zubu in succession, and along the way had nearly annihilated the three thousand cavalry of the Mergid who had come south.

In total they took more than eight thousand heads, accepted the surrender of over twenty thousand cavalry, and seized thirty thousand cattle, ninety thousand horses, and over six hundred thousand sheep.

They captured several dozen tribal leaders — Irkin, Tarkhan, Beg — from the various tribes, along with ninety thousand herders.

This can by no means be called a small achievement; in fact it was very great, with gains comparable to those of Huo Qubing in the Hexi campaign.

Although the weakling tribes now on the steppe cannot compare to the Xiongnu at the height of the Former Han, the Zhou army had likewise not sent many troops this time. Excluding the steppe auxiliaries they had subdued, the actual combat troops numbered not even ten thousand cavalry.

With such merit, could one carve stone at the Yanran Mountains?

Certainly one could. After smashing the Northern Zubu and slaying Duosage in battle, the Mergid too had suffered heavy losses and were active far away around Lake Baikal. The threat across the whole of Mobei could be said to have been lifted by more than half.

But when Zhang Zhao turned to look at the Hexi-Longyou cavalry he had led, he felt somewhat dejected. They had followed him through hardship all the way north, yet in the end had not gotten a single battle to fight.

The Tibetan and Qiang cavalry, and the Southern Tang and Wuyue soldiers, were thoroughly excited.

Shen Huzi of Wuyue had gotten much darker, looking almost like a Hexi man now, and was eagerly going off to gawk at the Zubu captives.

Li Jingda, who had thought he would die of exhaustion on the road and had secretly shed quite a few tears, had already led several Southern Tang envoys into the city of Woluduo, saying his poetic inspiration had surged and he wanted to write poems to commemorate the occasion.

Zhang Zhao's state of mind was somewhat similar to that of his Hexi-Longyou cavalry. Carving stone with this achievement would be no problem, but he still felt a slight sense of loss.

And so I, Sage Zhang, stood outside the city of the Anbei Protectorate, looking it over again and again, unable to suppress a surge of emotion.

"This is a mighty city! Standing here, one can imagine the soaring ambition with which the Great Tang built this city in years past."

Li Cunhui sidled over and said with an ingratiating smile, "My lord, this was not only the Anbei Protectorate of the great dynasty of old, but also the Dragon City of the Xiongnu of old, the yurt-court of the Turks, and the royal city of the Uyghurs."

Zhang Zhao glanced around, saw that no one was paying attention, and rapped Li Cunhui on the head with his knuckles.

"I thought you didn't know that? Knowing it, you dog still moved this fast. I led more than twenty thousand men all the way here, lost ten jin of flesh off my body, and in the end I turned into your transport battalion commander."

The term "transport battalion commander" was a bit odd, but Li Cunhui understood at once what it meant. He wanted to laugh but didn't dare, and could only hold it in with effort. Just then he spotted Yang Jiye skulking about in the distance and promptly hauled the boy over.

My young general Yang Wudi felt even more guilty at the sight of Zhang Zhao. Li Cunhui's actions could at least be called a normal offensive, but Yang Jiye had believed Pan Mei's words and intercepted halfway, eating up all of Sage Zhang's dishes.

Seeing Zhang Zhao staring at him, Yang Jiye could only put on a cheeky, grinning face.

"My lord, don't anger yourself sick. The Northern Zubu men we smashed this time are only small fry. The real big fish is still to the east."

Zhang Zhao stopped joking with his two foster sons and his face darkened. "Is there definite news?"

"There is!" Li Cunhui nodded repeatedly. "Seventh Brother, go bring that fellow over."

The man Yang Jiye brought over, now kneeling before Zhang Zhao, was none other than the father's sorrow, Bayegusi.

He had originally been persuaded by the Mergid chieftain Hulubashi to prepare to stab his harsh father Duosage in the back.

But he had never expected that before he could even make his move, Li Cunhui would kill Duosage outright in a single surprise attack.

Feeling that he had lost his direction, yet unwilling to spend his whole life as the master of a mere one or two hundred tents of herders, Bayegusi immediately had a flash of insight.

Since he had been prepared to sell out his own father Duosage, why couldn't he simply sell out the Khitan Empress Dowager?

Besides, this Khitan Empress Dowager was surely worth far more than his father Duosage, no matter how you looked at it!

Zhang Zhao sat thinking for a while. This Bayegusi still put on a very loyal appearance, and he did have a bit of vision — at least he knew to present himself as a follower of the Six Dharma Sect.

But his ability was not particularly strong, and since he had always been pushed aside by Duosage, he probably could not pacify the herders of the three Northern Zubu tribes.

In Zhang Zhao's view, the best way to solve the steppe problem was to follow the example of Genghis Khan in history.

Break up the tribal affiliations, strip the old aristocracy of direct rule over the tribes, appoint close kinsmen as commanders of ten thousand households and the warriors who followed him as commanders of a thousand households, transforming the federated steppe political system into a centralized Great Khan autocracy.

The twelve ten-thousand-household units Zhang Zhao had designed for the steppe were drawn from this line of thought.

But Genghis Khan could do this because he was himself a man of the steppe, and he was often on the steppe, so his trusted confidants could naturally be stationed there for long periods.

Zhang Zhao, however, could not. He could not remain beyond the frontier for long, and men like Li Cunhui and Yang Jiye could not simply be appointed to posts on the steppe.

Therefore Zhang Zhao needed another weapon — the assistance of the Six Dharma Sect.

But for the Six Dharma Sect to spread across the steppe would still require some time.

Very well. It seemed that for now, regarding the steppe, he could only draw off troops and, with the support of tribes that had embraced the Six Dharma Sect, continually carry out mopping-up operations against the tribes that refused to submit.

At the same time, the construction of the ten-thousand-household units could be slowed a little. What truly needed to be accelerated was the Six Dharma Sect's layout on the steppe.

For example, appoint one Living Buddha each in the Western Desert, the Northern Desert, and the Great Xianbei Mountains, and build a number of temples in the smaller localities. First establish the religious jurisdictions and the corresponding system of monastic official ranks, and then fit the political system of ten-thousand-household units into it.

Viewed this way, a man like Bayegusi, of merely average ability and character, could indeed be used.

In any case, what Zhang Zhao required now was to set up the framework first. After the three southern states of Southern Tang, Wuyue, and Southern Han were dealt with, he could turn back and thoroughly reorganize the steppe.

"Rise and speak. Report at once on the situation of Shulu Ping and the eight Dielie tribes!"

Hearing the Supreme Heaven permit him to rise, Bayegusi felt a numbness run through his body. In more than twenty years of life, he had finally bet correctly on one thing.

Though told to rise, Bayegusi still did not dare look at Zhang Zhao. To gaze directly upon the Supreme Heaven might well blind one's eyes with Buddha-light.

So Bayegusi lowered his head, bent his waist slightly, and let his gaze rest only at the level of Zhang Zhao's chest.

"The Khitan Empress Dowager arrived among the eight Dielie tribes in the third month of this year. With her came two thousand Khitan iron-armored Pishi troops and over a hundred eminent monks."

At this point Bayegusi paused. "It was these false eminent monks from the Khitan who deceived us, saying the Six Dharma Sect was a heretical demon path. Only then did Duosage, Hulubashi, and the others dare to resist."

As Zhang Zhao listened, he had the awaiting secretariat drafters beside him record it all.

After Bayegusi had gone out with profuse thanks, Zhang Zhao combined this information with the reports sent back by the Six Dharma Sect's dharma-preaching monks and the Khitan spies of the Brocade Guard, and basically got a clear picture of the situation among the eight Dielie tribes.

Sure enough, this evil wind of resistance to the Six Dharma Sect blowing across the steppe had been stirred up by Shulu Ping.

After the Khitan suffered successive blows, the old woman had advocated retreating to the Greater Xianbei Mountains, and because of this she had gradually fallen out of favor with the other Khitan nobles — especially after the prosperity of Jinzhou, her prestige had dropped considerably.

Having failed to dissuade her son Yelu Lihu, who insisted on going to Jinzhou to throw his life away, Shulu Ping decisively led the last two or three thousand elite Khitan warriors she could still command and moved into the territory of the Dielie Eight Tribes.

Besides the more than two thousand Khitan armored cavalry in her hands, Shulu Ping also used the Khitan's former prestige to conscript over three thousand warriors from the Shiwei and Tieli tribes.

And the Dielie Eight Tribes — they were in fact the most powerful tribal confederation on the steppe.

Because the Dielie Eight Tribes had a certain kinship connection with Shulu Ping's maternal clan, they had received preferential treatment from the Khitan, and for most of history they had appeared in the role of steppe collaborators.

Historically, during the Khitan period, there had been many rebellions on the steppe, and even among the Dielie Eight Tribes some had taken part, but never once had all eight tribes rebelled together.

Correspondingly, the benefits the Khitan gave to the various steppe tribes were naturally swallowed up, for the most part, by the Dielie Eight Tribes.

Now the Dielie Eight Tribes numbered more than thirty thousand households, with a population exceeding two hundred thousand, and they lived even more densely concentrated than the Northern Zubu people. They could field thirty or forty thousand cavalry at any time — a force not to be underestimated.

Of course, this strength was calculated on the basis of the Dielie Eight Tribes acting together. In reality, the Khitan were not entirely at ease with the Dielie Eight Tribes either, so the eight tribes had never had a single leader, each obeying the Khitan separately.

Once Zhang Zhao had grasped the situation, he immediately summoned his civil and military officials to discuss it.

Zhang Cheng and the others, who had not gotten a chance to fight, were extremely agitated. This Chief Commander of the Right Wing, long known for never contending for credit and keeping a low profile, spoke loudly for the first time.

"Although it is already mid-September, the weather has not yet turned completely cold. The great army has ample men and provisions, and morale is high — enough to launch another eastern campaign.

Moreover, since the Dielie Eight Tribes are the strongest power on the steppe, we can even less afford to let the Khitan integrate them. We must take advantage of the fact that Shulu Ping's authority is not yet established and eliminate this hidden danger in one stroke."

Li Cunhui and Huang Yingda also agreed. Huang Yingda said: "The reason the Khitan have been able to incite the various tribes to resist the Six Dharma Sect is not only that Shulu Ping has exploited the Khitan's former prestige, but also that more than a hundred demon monks have been deluding the people.

The Dielie Eight Tribes can perhaps be eliminated gradually, but these hundred-odd demon monks must be rooted out immediately!"

Huang Yingda, like Bai Congxin, came from the Yellow-headed Uyghurs — in fact, they belonged to the old Kucha people among the Tokharians.

Bai Congxin's family, the Kucha royal clan, had intermarried heavily with Han people, so their facial features were no longer distinct. But Huang Yingda's were obvious — pale skin and slightly fiery red hair.

Moreover, the cavalry unit Huang Yingda had long commanded was formed from Ganzhou Uyghur captives — the original Uyghur sworn-follower Left and Right Battalions.

Out of the fervor of converts, these people had instead become the most devout followers of the Six Dharma Sect in Hexi.

Seeing that the generals had all spoken, Li Fang, who held the posts of Gentleman Attendant at the Phoenix Terrace and Drafter in the Secretariat, also reminded him: "Sage, if we do not campaign east against the Dielie Eight Tribes, the pressure will fall upon the Duke of Jin.

Moreover, the Prince Consort of the Ganquan Princess, the Supervisor of Troops and Horses at Datong Prefecture, Zhe Erlang, has not been in contact since he led eight thousand cavalry out from Fengzhou Sands. This minister fears the Prince Consort may blunder straight into the Dielie Eight Tribes' territory."

Zhang Zhao nodded at these words. This campaign had been launched with five armies moving out together.

Yan Jin's task was to strike directly at the Khitan supreme capital, Linhuang Prefecture, and if the fighting went smoothly, to go on and clear out the Wugu tribes who fished and hunted in the Greater Xianbei Mountains.

Zhe Deyi had originally been assigned to deal with the Yedugua tribe. Since his army had not been seen all this time, it was highly likely they had veered off course and blundered eastward into the Dielie tribes' territory.

If Zhang Zhao's main force did not move, all the pressure would fall on them — it was indeed somewhat dangerous.

"Very well. All units rest and refit for one day. Tomorrow at dawn, we march east against the Dielie Eight Tribes!" Zhang Zhao made the decision at once.

(End of Chapter)

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