Chapter 735: Trouble Breeds Within the Walls; Winds and Clouds Shift

Jingzhao, Chang'an Prefecture.

The day before Pei Yuan was assassinated, at the residence of Cao Renzun, the Viscount of Ziting.

Though the night was already deep, the Cao residence blazed with lights. Servants in short, sturdy attire streamed in an endless flow of delicacies from every region, while drums and music sounded in the hall — a scene of great bustle.

Although cities like Jingzhao and Chang'an Prefecture had largely imposed a curfew ever since Zhang Zhao led his troops beyond the frontier, that did not affect a man like Cao Renzun.

Today was his sixtieth birthday. Not only was he exempt from the curfew, but even Cao Yuanzhong — Chief Minister of the Guanzhong Province, Defender of Jingzhao Prefecture, and State Father-in-Law, the Duke of Qiao — had to come in person to offer birthday congratulations after being invited.

The reason was simple: before Cao Yuanzhong's father, Cao Yijin, became Military Governor of the Guiyi Army, he had been called Cao Rengui.

The "Ren" character was the generational marker of the Cao family's previous generation — which is to say, Cao Renzun was Cao Yuanzhong's uncle.

And it was not merely a matter of being an uncle. The Cao family of Shazhou had, in fact, gradually withdrawn and settled in Shazhou after the Tibetans captured Liangzhou.

The Tang people who withdrew from Liangzhou at that time were by no means limited to the Cao family alone; by conservative estimate there were two to three hundred thousand of them. Yet in the end, no more than thirty or forty thousand successfully reached Shazhou and established themselves.

Amid that horrifying loss of nearly eighty percent, the reason the Cao family ultimately secured a stable foothold was that they had merged their lineage with the Western Cao branch of the Sogdians, who had long been settled in Shazhou and held some control over trade routes and considerable savings.

The Han folk who called themselves the Cao of Qiao Commandery hoped to rely on the power and territory of the Sogdian Western Cao in Shazhou to survive.

The Sogdian Western Cao hoped that through this lineage merger, they could thoroughly shed their Sogdian identity and become Tang people — or even Han folk — who were still considered "noble" at the time.

Of course, the greatest benefit was that after the two families merged their lineages, their population reached a scale of two to three thousand people, and they leapt to become a family of considerable influence in Shazhou.

It was only that after the lineage merger, under the influence of the Han tradition against marriage between those of the same surname, the Cao of Qiao Commandery from Liangzhou and the local Sogdian Western Cao did not intermarry on any large scale.

This meant that in the decades following the merger, they were not particularly close. Instead, because large numbers of Han people had suddenly flooded into Shazhou, where conditions were already harsh, the living environment turned grim, and the two sides even contended with each other.

This situation did not begin to improve until Cao Yijin started to rise.

First, Cao Yijin's grandmother and mother were both Sogdian, which naturally drew the Sogdian Western Cao close to him.

Second, Cao Yijin was truly a man of surpassing ability. As a mere junior officer, he had managed to marry the daughter of Suo Xun, then Military Governor of the Guiyi Army, and his prospects looked exceedingly bright.

So from then on, the two Cao families began to merge at great speed. By the time Cao Yijin seized supreme power in the Guiyi Army, the Caos were already the foremost clan among the Han people of the Guiyi Army.

In particular, Cao Yijin, like Sun Quan, had a fine purple beard, clearly bearing Sogdian features. With that, no one dared say any longer that the Sogdian Western Cao were not part of the Shazhou Caos, or not part of the Han people.

It was only that these small internal factions within the Cao family could never be entirely eliminated. Thus, although Cao Yuanzhong was nominally the head of the Shazhou Cao clan, in certain respects Cao Renzun, as an elder of the Sogdian Western Cao, still held great sway within the clan.

Cao Renzun could even be called an elder of the entire Shazhou Cao clan, because by now, he was the only one left of the Cao family's "Ren" generation.

Just as Zhang Zhao had to respect — or at least appear to respect on the surface — Zhang Huaiqing, the sole surviving member of the Zhang family's "Huai" generation, so too did Cao Yuanzhong have to lower his posture somewhat before Cao Renzun.

For example, right now: Cao Yuanzhong had personally issued the curfew, yet he still had to attend Cao Renzun's birthday banquet.

After three rounds of wine and five courses of food, Cao Renzun personally picked up a long gilt-bronze cup and walked over to Cao Yuanzhong's table. Cao Yuanzhong hurriedly stood, still speaking courteously.

"Today is Uncle's birthday. How would this nephew dare let Uncle offer the wine?"

Cao Renzun seemed a little drunk. He looked at Cao Yuanzhong, who had come over with utmost deference, and only after a long while shook his large head with its narrowed eyes.

"That this old man can hold a birthday banquet in Chang'an today, with such a great mansion and so many servants — it is all thanks to you!"

Cao Yuanzhong, for some reason, suddenly felt a stir of unease in his heart. He did not drink, but only looked at Cao Renzun and said,

"Uncle overpraises me. Your nephew is mediocre and dull-witted; how could he have brought the Cao family to such a state? All of this is the Sage's gracious favor."

Seeing that Cao Yuanzhong had not drunk, Cao Renzun let out a hollow laugh, then turned to the assembled members of the Cao family at the banquet and said with a smile,

"The Sage is certainly a hero, but he could not have conquered these ten thousand li of territory all by himself!

This enterprise of the Guiyi Army belongs to our Cao family. Without the wholehearted support of us Caos, could the Sage have entered Guanzhong so quickly?"

Cao Yuanzhong's face changed color abruptly. He turned and set down his wine cup. "Uncle, watch your words. Our Cao family merely followed in the Sage's wake, and only thus obtained our present glory and wealth. With or without the Caos, the Sage could still have established his rule over the Central Plains."

"Look at you, look at you." Cao Renzun beckoned a servant over and handed him his wine cup as well.

The drums and music in the hall stopped. A crowd of Caos, along with some old Guiyi Army men Cao Renzun had invited — people from the Yin, Chen, and other families — all held their breath and watched the uncle and nephew, Cao Renzun and Cao Yuanzhong.

"You've been this honest since you were a child. When the Sage went west to Khotan, wasn't it our Cao family that provided the three thousand strings of silver cash as capital? Three thousand strings!

Of the one hundred and eight founding generals, seventy-seven were provided by our Cao family, weren't they? Men like Qu Wulang, Luo Yu'er, and Luo Fengma — such elite yabing guards of the Military Governor's own ranks — were given away free, armor and weapons included.

The Great King of the Golden Kingdom of Khotan is not only the Sage's maternal uncle, but also our Cao family's son-in-law.

And when he returned to Dunhuang, the Great King, the Lord Governor, gave all that should have gone to Yuande to Zhang Erlang instead.

Tell me, of these four things, which one is not a great service and a great labor? So how has it come about that our Cao family's present wealth and honor was given by that Zhang Erlang?"

Cao Yuanzhong's eyes flew wide open. As if looking at a stranger, he stared straight at the Cao Renzun before him.

After standing stunned for a long while, Cao Yuanzhong tremblingly stretched out a hand and pointed at this uncle he had originally held in considerable respect.

For Cao Renzun to even utter the name "Zhang Erlang" — what was he trying to do?

"Cao Renzun, have you lost your mind? If outsiders hear this, they will think the Cao family harbors deep grievances!

Our Cao family has indeed rendered service, but now there is one empress and two consorts. The Cao family's imperial grandsons — princes and princesses — number as many as seven, and the future crown prince will surely be a Cao grandson.

With a position like this, are you still not satisfied? What madness are you spouting here?"

Cao Renzun looked at Cao Yuanzhong and snorted coldly through his nose. "Indeed — one empress and two consorts. Truly glorious.

But those are all your daughters, Cao Yuanzhong. You get to be a hereditary duke, entering court as chief minister and going out as regional governor, and your sons are even more dazzling.

But what about everyone else? An elder like me has only a countship that cannot be inherited — like tossing alms to a beggar. And how many of the other Cao sons have risen to high office?

If our Cao sons lacked ability, that would be one thing. But the trouble is that even when they have ability, you, Cao Yuanzhong, block them from high office.

What is that Pei Yuan? A venomous creature good only at wagging his tongue. On what grounds does he get to be Defender of the Western Capital, and now nearly hold regency over the court? On what grounds?"

The moment Cao Renzun spoke these words, a buzzing murmur immediately arose, because what Cao Renzun had said could not be called entirely wrong.

In the hearts of the Cao sons, Zhang Zhao's rise had indeed been just as Cao Renzun described — whether in men, wealth, or position, the Cao family had given aid of the utmost importance.

But now, although the Cao family had one empress and two consorts, both of them were Cao Yuanzhong's daughters.

The Worthy Consort, whom Cao Yuanxing had named Cao Yanmian (Queen of the Satuq), had also taken Cao Yuanzhong as her father — in truth, she too was Cao Yuanzhong's daughter.

Cao Yuanzhong and his son Cao Yanlu were of course resplendent, but compared with them, the benefits obtained by the other Cao sons were rather limited.

In the eyes of many of the more extreme-minded, Cao Yuanzhong must have colluded with his son-in-law while Zhang Zhao had not yet returned from Khotan — that Cao Yuanzhong had sold out the Cao family to obtain such benefits.

Cao Yuanzhong felt a chill run through him. He felt a boundless sense of grievance, yet could not speak it aloud.

For with the Cao family already so powerful in the inner palace, it was inevitable that they would have to be more restrained in the outer court.

Otherwise, with the Cao clan numbering as many as ten thousand sons and younger kin, if every one of them came seeking a share of the benefits, within not many years it would form an immensely vast consort clan, like the Huo Guang clan of the Former Han or the Liang Ji clan of the Later Han.

This was something the Emperor absolutely could not tolerate, and it was the greatest reason the Emperor had raised the Cao women to such heights in the inner palace.

The meaning was this: among the consorts, the empress in the foremost position was a Cao woman, and of the three consorts Noble, Virtuous, and Worthy, two were Cao women. Since the inner palace had given you all such glory, you should no longer think of seizing power in the outer court.

It was precisely because Cao Yuanzhong clearly understood the Emperor's thinking that he had always kept an extremely low profile. Whenever a Cao son was to be dispatched to a high post, he would always intervene to block it.

If the Emperor insisted on promoting someone, then he would follow the Emperor's will, but the Emperor generally approved of Cao Yuanzhong's opinions.

Uh, looking at it this way, it really is somewhat hateful!

Cao Yuanzhong knew that no amount of explanation would help now, and he also sensed that something was wrong.

In a flash, he put his hands behind his back and made a hand signal to his nephew Cao Yanshun, who served as his personal escort captain, while slowly beginning to back away, intending to put distance between himself and Cao Renzun.

Unexpectedly, the moment he moved, Cao Renzun leaped over in a single bound and grabbed Cao Yuanzhong by the sleeve.

"Sanlang, now that the Sage has gone north on a hunt and his situation is unknown, and at court the traitorous ministers Pei Yuan, Feng Dao, and the rest have done evil without end, stirring up boundless popular fury, even Sanniang has been forced to withdraw to the Divine Capital with Xianzai to protect herself.

You are the imperial father-in-law of the reigning dynasty and the head of our Cao clan. Why not rise with a single call, lead the sons of the Cao and other old Guiyi Army families, march east out of Tong Pass, and purge the court of villains!"

Cao Yuanzhong's heart went cold. The most dreadful situation had appeared. With a violent wave of his arm, he shook off Cao Renzun's grip.

Then he kicked the old man square in the chest, sending him tumbling head over heels on the ground, and bolted for the door.

With a clear ring—'qiang'—a hengdao saber barred Cao Yuanzhong's escape route.

A burly man in an outer robe over ring-linked armor, with fresh bloodstains on his face, body, and blade, blocked Cao Yuanzhong's path.

"Twenty-first Lang, you... how could you throw in with them? Why?"

Cao Yuanzhong looked at the man blocking him and was utterly stunned—no, he was utterly shattered.

For this Cao Twenty-first Lang, Cao Yancun, was among the very finest of the Cao clan's Yancun generation, accomplished in both letters and arms.

Cao Yuanzhong had valued him most highly, believing he was the most likely to become the pillar of the Cao clan at court in as little as five years, or at most ten.

After blocking Cao Yuanzhong, Cao Yancun did nothing to him, only stared at him with reddened eyes.

"Third Uncle asks me why? Then let me ask Third Uncle: outsiders like Cui Huxin, Du Chixin, and Guo Rong can all go out as prefectural commanders—why can I, Cao Twenty-first, not hold a single prefectural command?

In the campaigns against Ma Chu and against Shu, I fought with my life on the line. When garrisoning Mianzhou, in such a flourishing great city I took not a single coin. Why does Third Uncle still block my path upward?"

The term "prefectural commander" was the common folk's name for a prefect who also held the post of military supervisor. For example, Zhe Deyuan, Prefect of Datong Prefecture and concurrently Datong Military Supervisor, was called a prefectural commander by the common people.

Cao Yuanzhong staggered back in despair, then collapsed heavily into a chair, all strength drained from him in an instant.

Even Cao Yancun, a core member of the Cao clan, had joined in, and he had known nothing of it. Clearly it had been plotted for a long time. The Cao clan was doomed.

"You killed Yanshun?" Cao Yuanzhong asked in anguish.

In Cao Yancun's eyes, burning red with desire, a flicker of guilt appeared, but it vanished almost at once.

"No matter what I said, he would not listen. I had no choice but to act. Blades and swords have no eyes."

Cao Yuanzhong looked at Cao Yancun and nodded with a bleak, bitter smile. "The Sage said that you, Cao Yancun, appear selfless and impartial, but in truth your selfishness runs too deep and your desires are excessive. You cannot be abruptly released to a weighty post; you need further tempering before you can be a pillar.

That was overestimating you! Who could have imagined that you are in fact a fool whose wits are clouded by private desire.

Now the state's finest troops are all in the Sage's hands. How dare you rebel? There is no need for the Sage himself—only let Xinchang or Cunhui return, and you can wait to be hacked into mincemeat."

Hearing Cao Yuanzhong mention Murong Xinzhang, Cao Yancun flew into a rage, for Murong Xinzhang was also Cao Yuande's own maternal grandson.

"All the benefits have gone to your third branch. The rest of us branches cannot even take a prefectural command without watching your expression, and you have the nerve to say that.

Hmph! I might as well tell you: the Sage is not coming back. On the steppe, it is not only the Zubu chieftain Duosage who is waiting for him!"

"You dog and rat! So you have long harbored a rebellious heart, and still dare to use other pretexts. The Sage is a Heaven-blessed sovereign of surpassing brilliance. You expect a pack of steppe savages to trap the Sage—dream on!" Cao Yuanzhong cursed furiously.

Cao Yancun was about to retort when Cao Renzun, having climbed back to his feet, suddenly stopped him. "Stop jabbering with him."

Then Cao Renzun looked at Cao Yuanzhong. "Cao Sanlang, I ask you one last time: are you willing to come with us to the Divine Capital?"

This was no ordinary uprising. It seemed they wanted to seize control of the Eighth Prince Xianzai, whom his own third daughter had taken to the Divine Capital. Presumably there were people in the Divine Capital ready to receive them.

But in that case, he himself was certainly safe. Cao Yuanzhong let out a great breath, his strength suddenly returning. He beckoned to Cao Renzun.

Cao Renzun was overjoyed, thinking Cao Yuanzhong was wavering, and hurried over.

Instead, Cao Yuanzhong suddenly stood up, seized him by the collar, and—'pa pa pa'—landed three great slaps across his face.

Cao Renzun was short and small to begin with, while Cao Yuanzhong was tall and powerfully built. There was also an age gap of four or five years between them, and Cao Yuanzhong struck in the extremity of rage.

These three great slaps left Cao Renzun dizzy and reeling, blood coming from his mouth and nose, nearly knocking him unconscious.

Cao Renzun let out a shriek of agony. Enraged, he fumbled a dagger from his bosom and made to stab Cao Yuanzhong. Cao Yancun, quick-eyed and quick-handed, immediately seized the hand holding the dagger.

"Uncle-grandfather, the great matter comes first. We cannot kill him yet."

Cao Renzun's expression shifted several times, and he hatefully withdrew his hand. Outside, the sounds of shouting and killing rose in a great swell—presumably the guards of Cao Renzun's residence had begun attacking Cao Yuanzhong's guards in the outer courtyard.

In the banquet inside the room, a dozen or more Cao sons grabbed tables, chairs, and benches to resist. They too were unwilling to join Cao Renzun and the others in rebellion.

Cao Yuanzhong looked over with gratification. Those unwilling to join the rebellion were almost all the finest of the Cao clan's younger generation. Although the most outstanding, Cao Yancun, had become a rebel, the others had all withstood the test.

"Put down the tables and chairs. The Cao clan will have few people left after this; we cannot all die here. Keep your lives and watch how they are destroyed."

Having said this, Cao Yuanzhong looked at Cao Yancun. "Cao Twenty-first, surely you don't intend to kill us all."

Cao Yancun cupped his hands in salute. "Today I am forced by circumstance. When the Cao clan holds power over all under heaven in days to come, Third Uncle will understand how painstaking my intentions were today. So long as my blood kin no longer resist, I, Cao Twenty-first, will absolutely do them no harm."

Hearing Cao Yancun say this, and under Cao Yuanzhong's calming influence, the Cao sons who had been preparing to resist also put down the tables, chairs, and benches in their hands.

With those things in hand, there was no way to resist Cao Yancun and the others, who wore armor and held sharp blades.

Chang'an's defensive strength was actually nothing much, wholly unworthy of its name as the seat of Jingzhao Chang'an Prefecture.

This was unavoidable. Zhang Zhou's elite-troops policy meant it was impossible to stockpile large forces in every city—especially a city like Chang'an Prefecture, which faced no threat whatsoever.

In addition, during the last campaign against Meng Shu, a large number of troops had been drawn out of Guanzhong, and after the conquest of Shu, fewer than three in ten had returned.

At the same time, when Zhang Zhao went to Liangzhou, he had taken with him the entirety of the Jinchang Garrison's two thousand-odd infantry and cavalry, the imperial army troops left stationed in Chang'an.

As a result, the main military force of Jingzhao Chang'an Prefecture was now the guard units—that is, the three Chang'an guards.

And even these three guards were not at full strength. Their finest troops were still garrisoning Shu, and the three guards were not all in Chang'an Prefecture either; a portion had to be detached to garrison Fengxiang Prefecture and Binzhou Prefecture respectively.

Therefore the defensive forces within Chang'an city amounted to only a little over eight hundred men, plus a portion of temporarily conscripted long-term patrol troops, altogether no more than thirty-five hundred men.

Even more frightening was that the Military Supervisor of the Chang'an Prefecture troops, who controlled the three garrisons of Chang'an, was none other than Cao Yancun.

After locking Cao Yuanzhong and the others in an underground secret chamber, Cao Yancun immediately entered the military camp in his capacity as Military Supervisor, ordering the soldiers of the three garrisons to assemble at once and prepare to march to Tong Pass for a rotation of duty.

Although Cao Yancun did not hold the personally written troop-transfer order of Cao Yuanzhong, the Defense Commissioner of the Guanzhong Province, he had obtained Cao Yuanzhong's Defense Commissioner seal.

The three garrison Commanders under him felt that the sudden order to rotate to Tong Pass was somewhat irregular, but none of them imagined that Cao Yancun, a member of the Cao family with boundless prospects, would turn traitor.

So after a brief hesitation, they went to muster their troops and set out.

The reason Cao Yancun was heading to Tong Pass was that the Military Supervisor of Weinan Prefecture, the Tong Pass Garrison Commander, and the Regional Commander of Changguo Garrison, Duke of Qingyang Commandery Luo Yu'er, who was stationed at Tong Pass, had already been persuaded by Cao Renzun.

After Luo Yu'er's first wife died of illness, he had remarried Cao Yuande's daughter, Cao Yanying, the Fourteenth Daughter, and Cao Yanying's third maternal uncle, Suo Sanlang, had also joined Cao Renzun's rebellion.

Half a month earlier, on the pretext that Cao Yanying's maternal grandmother was gravely ill, he had lured Cao Yanying to Chang'an Prefecture, where she was immediately placed under house arrest by Suo Sanlang.

Then Cao Renzun, holding Cao Yanying and her six children as hostages, finally 'persuaded' Luo Yu'er to join their plan.

At present the army guarding Tong Pass numbered a full nine thousand men, of whom four thousand were the four thousand men of the Changguo Garrison of the imperial guard under Luo Yu'er's command, while the remaining five thousand were mostly former Shu troops.

On the surface they had been conscripted to garrison Tong Pass, but in reality they were tasked with building the Tong Pass fortifications and repairing the canal during the low-water season. Their days were bitter, and they should be easy to stir up.

Moreover, among those involved in Cao Renzun's conspiracy were large numbers of disaffected former Shu officials who longed for Meng Chang. With them, recruiting these former Shu troops would be all the more assured.

If the plan went smoothly—a faint smile appeared at the corner of Cao Yancun's mouth—once they reached Tong Pass, the soldiers of the three Chang'an garrisons under his command would realize something was wrong, but by then there would be no way back.

Because by following him and marching from Chang'an to Tong Pass without orders, they would already have committed a capital offense.

The common soldiers might not be punished too severely, but the officers would absolutely be finished. When the time came, he need only produce large sums of silver, and with a mix of coaxing, deception, and inducement, controlling them would not be difficult.

In this way, he would have fifteen thousand troops in hand, and there were still accomplices inside the capital.

Once Cao Yannai and Zhang Xianzai were under control, he would send a proclamation across the realm, declaring that the Empress and the crown prince Zhang Xianjing had already been murdered by Pei Yuan, and that he, Cao Yancun, had come to purge the court of villains.

With Pei Yuan's conduct having so enraged both heaven and the people, how could the great enterprise fail?

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