Chapter 85: The Strangest Feudal Lord of Khotan

Gentleman Attendant at the Yellow Gate, duty officer of the Tonghe Hall, Commandant overseeing Fengtian military affairs, and administrator of Yaotou Ridge.

These were the offices Zhang Zhao received from Li Shengtian. The post of Gentleman Attendant at the Yellow Gate was not much different from its counterpart in the Central Plains dynasties: a close attendant to the sovereign, assisting the ruler in handling state affairs, and even authorized to transmit edicts.

But Li Shengtian gave Zhang Zhao the post of Gentleman Attendant at the Yellow Gate certainly not because he wanted Zhang Zhao to help him handle state affairs, but so that Zhang Zhao could quickly settle the matter of how to blast open the walls of Shule, and to make it convenient for him to enter the palace at any time to discuss it with Li Shengtian.

Duty officer of the Tonghe Hall — this post sounded somewhat like the palace guard units of the two Song dynasties, belonging to the Son of Heaven's personal guard, with the right to enter and leave the forbidden palace. Clearly it was also a nominal title meant to make it easier for Zhang Zhao to enter the palace.

Overseeing Fengtian military affairs — note, this was overseeing Fengtian military affairs, not commanding Fengtian military affairs.

The Fengtian Army was the formal designation Li Shengtian gave to the hundred-odd men under Zhang Zhao, along with the several dozen carpenters and stonemasons soon to be assigned to him, and the three hundred miners he was authorized to recruit on his own.

By the way, Li Shengtian also transferred fifty of his palace guards to Zhang Zhao. The squad leader was that handsome palace guard whom Zhang Zhao had tricked and nearly blown up, disfiguring his face.

Planting a few of his own men, of course! If he hadn't planted these few men, Zhang Zhao would have suspected whether Li Shengtian was a qualified sovereign at all.

Commandant was the highest office in the Fengtian Army. Zhang Zhao's mother held the title Princess Fengtian, so Li Shengtian bestowed the Fengtian Army upon Zhang Zhao, and from now on he could be called Commandant of Fengtian.

Administrator of Yaotou Ridge, of course, meant that from this day forward Yaotou Ridge formally belonged to Zhang Zhao. According to Khotan's institutions, only with Yaotou Ridge could the Fengtian Army be called Zhang Zhao's private army.

Because in Khotan, one who had not obtained a feudal lord's title could not have a private army.

From now on, apart from paying Li Shengtian annual tribute worth thirty strings of cash, everything concerning Yaotou Ridge, including any income it produced, belonged to Zhang Zhao.

Of course, thirty strings' worth of goods was nothing. The real burden was that he had the obligation to send out ten men to fight for Li Shengtian, and in principle he had to provide their clothing, armor, grain, and death benefits himself.

At this point, the most bizarre feudal lord the Great Jin Kingdom had seen in ten years was born.

First, he did not hold any of the old Khotanese aristocratic titles with feudal connotations, such as prince, governor, or amozhi, but instead held an administrative post that clearly carried the character of a local official.

Second, his fief was so small it made people laugh and cry at once: a total of three hundred thirty mu of good farmland, and one broken-down fortress at Yaotou Ridge about five or six li in circumference — so much so that his troop levy quota was the smallest in the kingdom of Khotan, a mere ten men.

Moreover, given the size of Yaotou Ridge, were it not for its proximity to the royal city and the trade advantages that brought, he could not even have afforded to maintain ten private soldiers.

And third, he was at the same time one of the feudal lords in Khotan with the most powerful private army, possessing one hundred twenty-eight elite armored soldiers, twelve armored cavalry, ten elite light cavalry, and three hundred support troops — the miners.

He could also, according to the rules, hire from Khotan city at market rates no more than double that number of true support troops — that is, men who did the heavy labor on the battlefield, cut off heads, and helped with the looting after a city was breached, and all such dirty and exhausting work.

That is to say, at the extreme limit, Zhang Zhao could legally possess three armies of four hundred fifty men each, for a total of one thousand three hundred fifty men, of whom one tenth had quite good fighting ability.

One must understand that the entire kingdom of Khotan, at full mobilization, could only field about thirty thousand men. In Anxi, more than a thousand men was absolutely no small force.

Therefore, when Zhang Zhao came out of Li Shengtian's royal palace, he was in an extremely good mood.

This maternal uncle of his, the Son of Heaven — how to put it — history has consistently regarded him as one of the rare great rulers in the history of the kingdom of Khotan.

But Zhang Zhao, seeing how his joy and anger showed openly on his face, how extravagant his spending was, how devoutly he believed in Buddhism, and how his trusted officials dared to openly accept bribes, felt that he did not live up to his reputation.

But today, Zhang Zhao's impression of him changed again. This fellow's skill at political maneuvering was still on point — at least at the level of an above-average sovereign.

The Khotan royal palace looked loose and lax, but in reality its internal defenses were extremely strict, and the training of the Khotan palace guards was also highly disciplined.

This could be seen from what happened after the explosion. Those palace guards seemed to spring out of the ground, and ignoring Li Shengtian's shouts, they resolutely escorted him to a safe area. Nor did they care that Zhang Zhao was Li Shengtian's nephew — they uniformly treated everyone who approached as an enemy first.

This was the mark of an elite force. It showed that the Khotan army, or at least the palace guards, were trained with great discipline and had their own traditions. A sovereign who could possess such a loyal guard could not possibly be an unreliable, muddle-headed ruler.

This reminded Zhang Zhao of a certain famous — uh, perhaps one should say widely renowned — sovereign.

Of course not a ruthless figure like the First Emperor of Qin, Emperor Wu of Han, Emperor Taizong of Tang, or the Founding Emperor of Ming, nor a half-praised, half-condemned emperor like Emperor Xuanzong of Tang.

Rather, the sort like my Emperor Qianlong — the Clear and Bright Sovereign, the Terminator of Seals, the ancestor of heavy-metal punk aesthetics, the Complete and Perfect One.

Say he had no ability? That would be false — the man was extremely capable. Say he was a wise ruler? Yet whatever he did always fell just a tiny bit short.

Cared about face, loved extravagance, lived long, and when pushed hard enough could rouse himself and lift the nation's fortunes — but most of the time, he always put his personal reputation and whether he was enjoying himself first.

But such a sovereign had one advantage: if you suited his tastes, then he was truly good to you. As long as you didn't make him lose face, everything was easy to discuss.

"Fourteen! Fourteen!" The moment the whirlwind Zhang Zhao returned to Yaotou Ridge, he began shouting loudly. Cao Shisi, with extreme reluctance, poked his head out of a room.

"Within five days, I want thirty jin of gunpowder. The mixture ratio must be the best possible. I'll send the materials over right away. Can you do it?" Zhang Zhao looked at Cao Yanming with a grin.

Cao Yanming's face immediately changed. "If the materials were all in order, thirty jin of gunpowder wouldn't take five days at all — I could produce it in two. But you're generously giving me five days. Cousin-uncle, could it be that the charcoal isn't up to standard, and you want me to refine it again myself?"

"Aiya!" Zhang Zhao laughed exaggeratedly, his face carrying a bit of ingratiation.

"Truly nothing can be hidden from my Fourteen Lang! Those charcoal sellers outside — how could they understand a high-grade product like the Divine Fire Thunder? Utterly crude. Only what Fourteen Lang makes is the best."

"Good heavens, this definitely can't be done! You might as well just work me to death!" Cao Yanming was on the verge of tears. Grinding and roasting charcoal was absolutely not easy work.

"I'll pick out two clever and deft slave girls for you from Khotan city to be your assistants. As they say, when men and women work together, the work isn't tiring!" Zhang Zhao winked and kept making eyes at Cao Yanming.

"Who cares about Hu slave girls! And I truly can't do it, not that I'm unwilling!" Cao Yanming still insisted it was impossible.

"What a pity. My uncle the Son of Heaven has several princesses who have all come of age, and they're stunningly beautiful! My uncle also told me to keep an eye out — whether there are any outstanding young talents around me!" Zhang Zhao sighed with feigned regret.

"You...! You really are my good cousin-uncle!" Cao Yanming glared at Zhang Zhao, wanting to refuse but also somewhat reluctant.

A princess of Khotan! Everyone among the Cao clan of Shazhou knew that whoever could marry a Khotan princess was surely the finest of the Cao family, and the whole clan would regard him with greater respect.

Even his sixth brother, Cao Yanlu, a rising star of the Cao family, was racking his brains over how to marry a Khotan princess.

And Zhang Erlang was using this to tempt him! It was too... too irresistible!

"Did the Great Sage Son of Heaven really say that to you?" Cao Yanming surrendered. The temptation of a Khotan princess was simply too great for him!

"What do you think? Has Zhang Erlang ever gone back on his word?" Zhang Zhao was thick-skinned and didn't even blink.

Of course, if it were truly possible, he would still be quite willing to make an effort for Cao Yanming, because that would bind Cao Yanming even more tightly to his side.

"Fine! Find me two clever and deft slave girls, and this young master will simply go without sleep for the next few days!"

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