Chapter 79

Yaotougang was a small town about twenty li from the city of Khotan. Before the Kaiyuan era, the Pisha Protectorate had stationed troops here on a large scale.

The name Pisha came from Buddhism. Thinking back to the twenty-second year of Zhenguan, Xue Wanbei had overawed Khotan with fifty cavalry, and the King of Khotan, Yuchi Fuduxin, under his "persuasion," had gone in person to Chang'an to pay homage.

However, by the time Yuchi Fuduxin reached Chang'an, Emperor Taizong of Tang had already passed away. But his successor, Gaozong Li Zhi, was greatly delighted, and at once made Yuchi Fuduxin Prefect of Pisha Prefecture. Later it was elevated to the Pisha Protectorate, one of the Four Garrisons of Anxi.

But now times had changed. The Great Tang no longer existed, and the once-famous Anxi Tang army garrison had become a small fortress.

The town's residents had either died in the chaos of war or moved to the city of Khotan. Those still here now were thirty or forty households of Khotanese commoners.

"Young lord, the household registers of the town's residents are all here. The Son of Heaven has issued a decree: from now on, this place will be the young lord's base for settling his followers!"

Beside Zhang Zhao, an official in a green robe handed Zhang Zhao a thin register.

As he spoke, this official, who clearly bore mixed-blood features, asked Zhang Zhao with considerable emotion.

"Does the young lord know what kind of imperial favor this is?"

Zhang Zhao gestured for Zhang Zhong to take the register, then solemnly cupped his hands and bowed.

"I have only just arrived in the Great Jin Kingdom and do not yet understand the measure of such things. I was just about to ask Lord Tian for guidance!"

The minor official in the green robe, hearing Zhang Zhao call him Lord Tian, could not help narrowing his eyes in delight. He was only a petty Registrar of Households in the Khotan royal city; what right did he have to be addressed as "Lord"?

Moreover, as soon as Zhang Zhao finished speaking, he hurriedly had Zhang Zhong present a wooden box.

"I have heard that Lord Tian's ancestors were also Great Tang officials of the Yanqi Protectorate. This box of lard honey cakes is a delicacy of the Central Plains. I give it to Lord Tian to soothe your homesickness!"

In Khotan at this time, the King of Khotan had changed his own name from Yuchi Sengwubo to Li Shengtian. When those above have a liking, those below are sure to imitate it. Among the Khotanese nobility and officialdom, a fashion had arisen of giving oneself a Han name. Anyone who could claim even the slightest connection to the Great Tang said they had Great Tang blood.

Take this Registrar Tian before him, for example. He had originally had a Khotanese surname, but to curry favor with those above, he had found himself a Han ancestor and changed to a Han surname.

In official settings he went by the surname Tian and could speak a kind of Chinese that, while requiring slow listening to understand, was still enough to communicate with people. But once he returned home, he naturally became a Khotanese again.

Still, judging by this Registrar Tian's appearance, it was not impossible that he really did have some Han blood.

Registrar Tian smiled faintly. What kind of lard honey cake could cross a thousand li of desert without spoiling? It was surely just a figure of speech.

Sure enough, after Registrar Tian gently opened the box a crack and glanced inside, the smile on his face grew even more satisfied, for inside lay three silver ingots of superior quality, worth at least five months of his income.

"The young lord's generosity is hard to refuse, so I will shamelessly accept. When I said the Son of Heaven favored the young lord, it is because my Great Treasure Jin Kingdom, since the eleventh year of Tongqing, has for nearly ten years not granted land to any subject—and certainly not in a place so close to the royal city."

Khotan's political system, from what Zhang Zhao had so far learned, was a very strange hybrid.

In the region near the royal city of Khotan, Li Shengtian had established Grand Tutors, Grand Commandants, and the hundred officials of the Six Ministries, making it look like a centralized state.

But in reality, Khotan had very strong feudal characteristics. Below King Li Shengtian himself, apart from Anjun Prefecture, where the capital city of Khotan lay, the other nine prefectures had all been enfeoffed.

The Prefect of each prefecture was the greatest feudal lord. The various regions under each Prefect were also controlled by other feudal lords great and small.

When war broke out, each feudal lord would lead his private troops to the capital, and then they would march out under the command of generals from the King of Khotan's direct forces.

In other words, what Li Shengtian actually controlled completely was only the capital prefecture of Anjun and Yarkand (Shache) to the north. All the rest was under the control of feudal lords great and small.

Zhang Zhao suddenly thought: could Li Shengtian's obsession with Great Tang culture also be driven by an intention to introduce the Central Plains system of commanderies and counties, and thereby weaken the power of the kingdom's feudal lords?

If that were so, then he would certainly not increase the number of landed feudal lords. Ten years without enfeoffment would then seem perfectly normal.

And now that Li Shengtian had granted this Yaotougang to him, Zhang Zhao, it could indeed be called considerable imperial favor.

"There is also..." A gleam of shrewdness flashed through Registrar Tian's eyes.

"Someone asked me to remind the young lord of something. There are matters he must report to the Son of Heaven in a timely fashion. That is his duty as a subject. I beg the young lord's pardon!"

Watching Registrar Tian walk briskly away hugging the wooden box, Zhang Zhao stroked the beard that had begun to grow on his chin, his mind calculating rapidly.

Beside him, old Zhang Zhong was full of puzzlement. "What did that Registrar Tian mean? He took thirty strings of cash from us and left us with just that one cryptic remark?"

"Ahem!" Zhang Zhao coughed dryly, inwardly certain that from now on he must never let old Zhang Zhong get involved in any political matters.

The person Registrar Tian meant—the one who had to report to the Son of Heaven at all times—was undoubtedly Li Ruoyu, whose identity was somewhat sensitive!

Li Ruoyu was using Registrar Tian to tell him that Li Shengtian already knew everything he had done in Yuni City, including the matter of giving the Zhongyun Right Queen to his senior general!

The fortress at Yaotougang was clearly somewhat dilapidated from age. It was a stronghold built in the style of a large Han fortified manor, with a perimeter of at least five li, but in many places the earthen walls had collapsed and been reclaimed as farmland.

Only one section on the right side of the stronghold still had relatively intact buildings—many low, squat houses built of mud, stones, and branches, packed tightly together.

When Zhang Zhao walked in through the broad main gate, both sides of the gate were lined with kneeling men, women, and children of all heights, men and women each on one side. There were many children and adults, but relatively fewer elderly.

Zhang Zhao had originally intended to make a speech to win the hearts of these "subjects" under him, but they could barely understand his Uyghur, let alone Chinese, and their local Khotanese dialect was like heavenly scripture to Zhang Zhao.

He was truly getting a bit obsessed with winning people over, Zhang Zhao thought with a self-deprecating smile. People like these, with no martial skills and no experience of military life, hardly required such effort to recruit.

So Zhang Zhao handed the register in his hand to Zhang Zhong. It was the inventory they had made after unearthing the Zhongyun King's treasure in Yuni City.

"Old Zhong, we have quite a few people now. I need you to take charge of logistics and supplies for me.

That Wu Yuan'er came to see me yesterday. He said he does not wish to return to Dunhuang and is willing to follow me. Go and make arrangements with him. From now on, you will be in charge of this area, with him as your deputy."

"Yes!" Old Zhang Zhong clasped his hands and gave a crisp acknowledgment, his face breaking into a delighted grin. "This old man was chosen by the Son of Heaven to be the young lord's steward. At last I can be of use!"

"Very well then, Old Zhong. After you find Wu Yuan'er, work out a plan for tidying up and repairing Yaotougang Fort. If you need money, just bring it to me for approval!"

But Zhang Zhao pointed at the city wall, which had almost completely collapsed. "There's no need to rebuild the wall, though. Just put up some fencing to keep out wild animals."

As he spoke, Zhang Zhao seemed to think of something, and pointed again at a distant section of earthen wall that was very tall and relatively well preserved.

"Have someone reinforce that section. Build it to the strictest standards for a city wall!"

Not rebuilding the wall was because this place was close to the Khotan royal capital. You're a nephew arriving with over a hundred fierce armored soldiers, and the first thing you do is build a fortress—what would Li Shengtian think?

And reinforcing that distant section was because Zhang Zhao had suddenly realized: without such a section of wall, how could he demonstrate the power of his black powder to Li Shengtian?

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