Chapter 783: Fifteen Years of Wind, Frost, Rain, and Snow

"My brother, I have finally waited for your return."

After crossing Boda Ridge and finding the Zhenzhu River without trouble, they had followed it downstream for little more than thirty li when the force led by Yao Yuanfu and Guo Guangcheng came upon a small tribe.

But just as Yao Yuanfu was about to seize a few men for interrogation, the small tribe caught sight of the padded coats they wore, and a dozen or so people came running out.

One of them, a burly man with a reddish complexion, shouted toward Guo Guangcheng in fluent Tang speech.

Tears poured down Guo Guangcheng's face. He recognized who it was — his once closest brother, and also his wife's elder brother: Chi Tian of the Gray Wolf tribe.

Chi Tian threw his arms around Guo Guangcheng, a grown man weeping until his whole body trembled.

"Grandfather and Father both died in battle, and Ninth Uncle died in battle too. We lost so many people — all because of that beast Guo Guangyi."

Guo Guangcheng sank into inconsolable grief, but Yao Yuanfu remained highly vigilant.

Around Suyab there were at least a hundred thousand people, while they had only two thousand. More than ten years had passed — who could say whether the best of old friends had not already changed heart?

Taking advantage of Guo Guangcheng's moment of grief, Yao Yuanfu waved a hand, and the armored soldiers, already changed into their armor, seized their weapons and swiftly moved to occupy every advantageous position.

But the moment a silver-edged Three Stars banner was brought out by the armored soldiers under Yao Yuanfu's command, everything changed.

Countless people in tattered clothes, some still caked with mud, hair tangled and unwashed for who knew how long, came running from every direction. They carried no weapons, but only stood there staring blankly as a group.

They gazed at the Three Stars banner held aloft by the armored soldiers, looked with envy at the soldiers' fine cloth-faced iron armor and powerful frames, and clicked their tongues in wonder.

"At last we see the imperial troops of the court — even more imposing than when everyone went in person last time."

"This young lord, I heard the Sage who once came to Suyab has revived the Great Dynasty — is it true? Does the Sage still remember us, the people of Suyab?"

"Erlang, Sanlang, come quickly! This is the Three Stars banner of the Great Tang, these are the imperial troops of the court. In our ancestors' day, they were this imposing too!"

Time passed like a white colt glimpsed through a crack in the wall.

In the old days, Zhang Zhao had come to Suyab and found anew the descendants of Duke Guo Xin, Military Governor of Wuwei Commandery. But back then Zhang Zhao had stayed in Suyab for less than a year in all. Fifteen years had passed since he had left with several hundred of the Guo family's finest young men.

Fifteen years! Under Guo Xuanli's leadership, the Guo family had held on for another fifteen years.

The youth once praised by Zhang Zhao was now past thirty. The brave men who had once summoned their remaining strength to fight alongside Zhang Zhao and drive back the Samanid Persians were now mostly in their forties.

Forty years old — for later generations, that is still the prime of life. But here in Suyab, where the wind is fierce and the snow deep, in this era more than a thousand years ago when productive power was undeveloped, forty meant one was close to the grave.

Objectively speaking, apart from those who left with Zhang Zhao, the other people of Suyab had not enjoyed much benefit from him.

The only thing Zhang Zhao had left them was the crushing of the Samanid Persians and the Karakhanids, making these remnants of the Great Tang the nominal masters of Suyab and Talas.

But Suyab was ten thousand li from the Central Plains — a terrifying distance. And since the Central Plains itself was not populous, apart from merchants, few people from the Central Plains had reached Suyab over the years.

Never mind so broad a designation as "sons of Tang" — even blood kin, when they live far apart and see little of each other, will grow estranged.

In those fifteen years, what Guo Xuanli faced was also an immense difficulty.

He had to keep telling later generations, telling the next generation and the one after that, how flourishing and mighty the Great Tang had been, how rich and prosperous, and what pride there was in being a son of Tang.

But this was not easy, because what Guo Xuanli spoke of existed only in books and in imagination.

The reality was that in Suyab, apart from the Guo family and these few thousand people loyal to the Great Tang, the remaining hundred thousand or more all lived in the manner of the Uyghurs, or even of the Turks of old.

These few thousand who lived by Tang customs, even if they could barely be counted as the ruling class, had become oddities in the eyes of everyone else. Not a single ray of the so-called glory of the sons of Tang shone upon them.

So when a Guo Guangyi appeared, proclaiming that he would make everyone live in one way and would establish a great khanate, he naturally won the support of the overwhelming majority.

Understanding this, it was not hard to see what was precious about the people before them. Even a hard-hearted, cold-faced killer like Yao Yuanfu could not help his eyes growing hot.

The other armored soldiers, looking at these people who were like wild men yet could still speak Tang speech ten thousand li from home, could not help being deeply shaken — a shock they could never have felt in the Central Plains.

Guo Guangcheng suddenly let out a wail and wept bitterly. He understood now why the Guo family had not been able to hold on in the end — it was all because of him.

It was Guo Guangcheng who, six or seven years ago, had written to Guo Xuanli urging him to abandon the Church of the East.

Because by then, Zhang Zhao's identity as the Supreme Heaven was growing ever heavier, and especially once the Six Laws Sect began taking shape, Guo Guangcheng knew that if the Guo family kept clinging to the Church of the East, they would very likely be struck by the Six Laws Sect in the future — and even Zhang Zhao himself would be powerless to stop it.

Because the Six Laws Sect could tolerate the existence of other religions, but it would absolutely never permit the Guo family's Church of the East to exist.

One must understand that the core of the Six Laws Sect was the Central Plains culture of Confucianism, Mohism, Legalism, Daoism, and Yin-Yang, with thousands of years of nourishment behind it to draw upon. Once they fully donned the outer garment of religion, their fighting strength would be no joke.

When the time came, they would have theory when theory was needed, and swords when swords were needed — and with a living god besides, who could stand against them?

But the Guo family's Church of the East was an anomaly, because they had been playing this game for decades already.

Under their reforms, the Church of the East in Suyab, besides Jesus, also worshipped deities such as the Dharma King Jingtong and the Great Celestial Venerable Amohe, and its narratives had begun to draw close to Central Plains culture.

To the Six Laws Sect, that was no ordinary religion, but a heresy come to steal their livelihood! And one must know that heresy is ten thousand times more hateful than a kafir.

So Guo Guangcheng wrote to Guo Xuanli, and Guo Xuanli also realized the problem and began to sever the Guo family from the Church of the East.

But this brought a huge problem. In the past, the Guo family had been able to keep its footing in Suyab only by surviving under the cover of the Church of the East.

Now that they had shed the Church of the East's clothing, it was as if they stood naked before the world. At the same time, the "new clothes" — that is, Han culture — had not arrived, because Zhang Zhao had to pacify the Central Plains.

In the end, before Guo Xuanli's bones were even cold, rebellion broke out. Of Guo Xuanli's three sons and six grandsons, only Guo Tianfang, who was now weeping in Guo Guangcheng's arms, survived. All the rest were killed. Among the Suyab Guo family and the others loyal to the Great Tang, more than a thousand were slain.

"Guo Guangyi, I swear I will kill you!" Guo Guangcheng howled in agony.

"Did Guo Guangyi really say that being a son of Tang held no glory, and that it was better to live freely as a Uyghur?" Yao Yuanfu asked Chi Tian through gritted teeth.

Chi Tian nodded. "That is exactly what he said. Not only did he say it, he also burned every book in Suyab written in Han characters, and forbade the speaking of Tang speech, ordering everyone to speak Uyghur."

"How dare that field slave abandon his ancestors! Your father will surely smash your dog head to pulp!" Yao Yuanfu and the armored soldiers behind him had fire blazing in their eyes. This was the first time they had been truly enraged since passing Yangguan so long ago.

These armored soldiers in particular — in the past, they had not felt that the identity of a son of Tang was anything precious.

After all, the Central Plains had been in chaos for several hundred years. Few barbarians still yearned for the Great Tang, and there was no place left to experience the nobility of being a subject of the Celestial Dynasty.

What was more, among these men were quite a few Tuyuhun and Tangut whom Yao Yuanfu had recruited in Shuofang.

But this time, they had just enjoyed wonderful days in Anxi and Beiting, where barbarian girls paid money to press themselves upon them, begging only for their seed. They had grown accustomed to the extreme envy that naturally showed in others' eyes at the sight of their black hair and black eyes.

They had visited the great temple built by Sage Zhang in Kucha for sacrifices to the Anxi Army, and seen the profound reverence with which all the barbarians treated that temple.

The national pride in their hearts had already burst to the brim. Now, suddenly hearing such words, how could their lungs not explode with rage?

Without even waiting for Yao Yuanfu to act, several armored soldiers surged forward, grabbed Chi Tian, and asked, "How many li from here to Suyab? How many armored soldiers are in the city? Is there a way to slip through and reach the walls unseen?"

"It is still more than three hundred li to Suyab. The city should have six or seven hundred armored soldiers."

"His mother! Lord Yao, let us go right now and kill that field slave."

The moment they heard that Suyab had only six or seven hundred armored soldiers, the mood instantly turned from righteous fury to blazing eagerness for battle.

I thought they were something fierce, but it turns out they've only got six or seven hundred armored soldiers. A soft persimmon this hated — why not hurry up and squeeze it till it bursts?

They had gone from simply repaying the Sage's grace and not disgracing the Tiger Grand General, to wanting to go deal with those mixed barbarians themselves.

But on Chitian's face, an expression of pain appeared. "There is a way to slip across, because our wives, children, and elders have all been detained in Suyab City.

Guo Guangyi's younger brother Guo Guangjie has already put out word — if we don't go back, he'll start killing our families."

Only now did Yao Yuanfu and Guo Guangcheng realize that in this camp on the mountainside, there was almost no sign of the old, the weak, women, or children. And Chitian's offhand remark about being detained in Suyab City — who knew how much bitterness it concealed.

Their wives, daughters, and sisters were being held hostage by men like Guo Guangyi. What they might suffer was too horrible to imagine. The pain of a man who cannot protect his wife, children, and elders — how agonizing it must be.

Guo Tianfang, tears streaming down, looked at Guo Guangcheng. "Before Ninth Granduncle was hammered to death by Guo Guangjie, he told your nephew that back then, our Guo family came to Suyab by way of the Boda Ridge. If the court's great army finds the old road blocked, they will surely come this way.

Second Uncle, you've finally come. Now we can have our revenge!"

Ninth Granduncle was called Guo Xuanchao. He was the next successor chosen by the Guo family, so he clearly knew the family's circumstances from those years.

He knew that Guo Guangcheng would certainly come by this secret route the Guo family had used to enter Suyab in the old days.

Yao Yuanfu patted Guo Guangcheng on the shoulder. "Let's rest one night, pick five hundred brave men, and set out tomorrow. We can't let them die in vain!"

(End of Chapter)

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