Chapter 86: Kindred Spirits

"Commandant! Yan Jin has absolutely no second thoughts toward you, Commandant. I will never touch that woman, and I will never use the precious armor and horse bestowed by the Great Sage Son of Heaven!"

In Yaotou Ridge, Zhang Zhao had just returned to his room when Yan Jin came leading a horse and carrying armor in his arms. After finding Zhang Zhao, he dropped to one knee with a thud, his face flushed red with urgency.

"Yan Jin, why must you do this? The Great Sage Son of Heaven merely bestowed a beauty, a fine horse, and precious armor. It does not signify anything else.

In truth, even if you wished to serve the Great Sage Son of Heaven, it would be no harm. We have shared life and death together. If you can gain a greater future, I would be sincerely gratified!"

Zhang Zhao did feel some worry in his heart, so his words did not take Yan Jin's temperament into account.

Hearing Zhang Zhao speak this way, Yan Jin's eyes instantly reddened. With a ripping sound, he drew a short knife.

"If the Commandant does not believe me, then I shall first sever a finger to prove my sincerity, and then go kill that Khotanese woman!"

Only then did Zhang Zhao react. He lunged forward and grabbed Yan Jin's right hand just as it was about to cut off the tip of his own left little finger.

"Brother Yan, do not do this. It was I who misspoke. My original meaning was that my uncle the Great Sage Son of Heaven has shown me nothing but loving care, and would never go so far as to win over my subordinates. Khotan is also a Han family kingdom. If Brother Yan wishes to settle here, I would indeed be glad to see it."

Yan Jin glanced at Zhang Zhao, saw that he truly was not putting on an act, and only then released the short knife in his hand. He looked at Zhang Zhao and said,

"Commandant, with my martial skills, if I wanted to live comfortably, I could live comfortably anywhere. Even in the Shouchang Garrison, if I had been willing to climb upward, I would long ago have entered the Military Governor's Guard Army.

But I spent twenty years as a slave child of the Tibetans on Gold Mountain, with no clothes to cover my body and no food to fill my belly. The greatest ambition of my life is to rescue those Han sons fallen into barbarian dust.

So after I arrived at Shouchang, I went up Gold Mountain eleven times, rescuing over a hundred people.

I follow the young lord because the young lord has the resolve to rescue the sons of Tang in Anxi. I beg the Captain, young lord, to understand this subordinate's wholehearted sincerity!"

With a thud, Zhang Zhao also dropped to one knee before Yan Jin, and his form of address changed from Brother Yan to Elder Brother Yan.

"Elder Brother Yan's aspirations are lofty and far-reaching; I cannot match them! To rescue the thousands upon thousands of sons of Tang fallen into barbarian dust, and to revive the great glory of the Great Tang — that is my lifelong wish. I am willing, together with Elder Brother Yan, to hack through brambles and thorns and together build a great cause!"

Fan Quan and Yin Yaozi, who had come along with Yan Jin for fear that he would act rashly and offend Zhang Zhao, also dropped to one knee.

"Young lord, the two of us are also willing to send the Sanpoba beauty you bestowed to the Samoruo Temple. High office and beautiful women are not what we desire; we desire only to revive the glory of us sons of Tang!"

"How could such a grand undertaking lack me, Bai Congxin? Don't look at my barbarian-looking face — as a descendant of Lord Bai Xiaode, Prince of Changhua Commandery of the Great Tang, I can surely bear the name of a son of Tang!

As for my beauty, I also ask the young lord to send her to the Samoruo Temple along with the others. But in days to come, when we have won merit and achieved our wish, the young lord must find me a true Han maiden of good family to marry!"

With a long laugh, Bai Congxin appeared at the doorway.

Tears burst from Zhang Zhao's eyes, and he stood up through blurred vision.

Before this, although he had kept talk of restoring the Great Tang's glory and rescuing the sons of Tang in Anxi on his lips, he had in truth treated it as nothing more than a slogan.

Because everyone he had encountered had never taken it seriously, Zhang Zhao had always felt an inexplicable loneliness.

But now it seemed that Yan Jin, Fan Quan, Yin Yaozi, Bai Congxin, and the others would rather give up exquisitely beautiful women than settle in Khotan, resplendent as brocade and blazing as oil on fire, and were all actually willing to follow him in reviving the Great Tang's glory.

What is rarest of all? It is precisely people like these — people who follow you wholeheartedly and still hold ideals — who are rarest.

A clamor arose outside the door. Yaotou Ridge was only so large, and the sight of Yan Jin, red-faced, leading a horse and carrying armor to find Zhang Zhao had spread through the place in no time.

Zhang Zhao walked out the door. Nearly all of his hundred armored soldiers were outside. The two fellows Man Xiong and Dunzhu were the most conspicuous, and Ma Yaozi had also put away that odd, vegetable-selling expression of his.

One could say that after the bloody battle at Wuni City and their shared hardships, Zhang Zhao had truly won their hearts.

"Commandant! You are the best official Man Xiong has ever seen. I can't say the things those officials can say, but I know this: you, Commandant, young lord, would never harm Man Xiong, and you are truly good to Man Xiong! Man Xiong is willing to follow you in life and death!"

"That's right! In the past, when we went into battle, those with families worried that no one would care for their parents, wives, and children; those without families worried that if they died, their money would go unspent and no one would even collect their corpses.

But now we fear none of that. We just want to follow the Captain, young lord, and accomplish something great!" Ma Yaozi, too, very unusually spoke a fine piece of reasoning.

"All of you are fine men! All true heroes!" Zhang Zhao exclaimed from the heart. He drew an arrow from the quiver hanging by the door, raised it high, then abruptly snapped it.

"With the wholehearted support of all you brothers, we will surely revive the Great Tang's glory in Anxi, and rescue even more sons of Tang fallen to the barbarian invaders.

I, Zhang Zhao, here today swear before all the gods and Buddhas of heaven: from now on, no matter what, I will share life and death with all you brothers. If I break this oath, may I be as this arrow!"

In the Khotan royal palace, a gray-robed palace eunuch hurried into Li Shengtian's imperial study. Without even brushing the snowflakes from his body, he dropped to one knee before Li Shengtian, holding up a strip of yellow hemp paper covered in writing.

"Just say it directly. I am listening!" Li Shengtian, in the middle of reviewing memorials, did not even raise his head.

At his gesture, a purple-robed monk beside him reached out and took the yellow hemp paper from the gray-robed eunuch's hand. The eunuch then took the opportunity to rise, though he still habitually kept his back bent.

"After the Son of Heaven's rewards arrived, that young officer called Yan Jin took the fine horse and armor, left without so much as a glance at the pearl maiden, and went straight to wait outside the Fengtian Commandant's gate until he returned home. He even declared that he would return all the Son of Heaven's rewards."

A flicker of displeasure crossed Li Shengtian's face, but then it vanished completely.

"Quite a temper! And then? Were the rewards returned?"

"No, the Fengtian Commandant talked him out of it!" the gray-robed eunuch continued.

"At least this little dog-slave knows what's important. If he dared return my rewards, I'd have him dragged before the Five Phoenix Tower and beaten with the plank!"

Li Shengtian nodded. Perhaps at the thought of Zhang Zhao being beaten, the corners of his mouth could not help but curl upward, revealing a rare smile.

Both the gray-robed eunuch and the two purple-robed monks showed shock in their eyes. That "little dog-slave" and that smile were absolutely not meant for a subject — they were very much like those for one's own child.

"But afterward, the officers who had been granted the Sanpoba consorts by the Fengtian Commandant all came over. Together they sent the Sanpoba consorts back, and also requested that the Fengtian Commandant petition Your Majesty to send them all to the Samoruo Temple.

In the end, the Fengtian Commandant even broke an arrow in public and swore an oath to share life and death with them, to revive the Great Tang's glory, and to rescue the sons of Tang in Anxi!"

The moment the gray-robed eunuch finished speaking, Li Shengtian suddenly shot to his feet. His expression shifted several times before he let out a long breath.

"I had originally thought the Sanpoba were simply too worthless and so were taken advantage of by this nephew of mine. Now it seems this truly is a hidden dragon!

So young, and already able to win men's hearts like this! If used properly, he would be a divine weapon in this king's hand!"

"The Son of Heaven speaks truly. Young Lord Zhang Erlang is not a man of our country, has no roots whatsoever in Khotan, and is bound to the Son of Heaven by blood. If the Thunder Sound method proves true in ten days, he will be of great use!"

The speaker was none other than the old monk Sengjia Damo, whom Zhang Zhao had seen in the temple's secret chamber.

"The Royal Uncle speaks wisely! Our kingdom of Khotan needs just such a sharp weapon to break the deadlock!" Li Shengtian gave a slight bow. This old monk was actually his royal uncle.

"Son of Heaven, then what of Yaotou Ridge..." Hearing Li Shengtian's stance, the gray-robed eunuch said hesitantly.

"Of course the surveillance must continue! Order the Palace Eunuch Army to assign more elite troops. Every detail must be recorded, but it must also be done more covertly!"

Having said this, Li Shengtian turned to the true Gentleman Attendant of the Yellow Gate beside him and said,

"Since that Yan Jin has a loyal and righteous heart, bestow on him another precious saber. As for the others who wish to send the Sanpoba consorts to the Samoruo Temple, grant permission to all, and bestow on each a fine horse and a suit of precious armor!"

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