Chapter 245: Safe Travels

Baiyan Taiji wore no armor. He sat on the watchtower platform in a satin robe, utterly unafraid of the battle formation before him.

He was already past forty. Huoluochi had eight sons, and Little Lazun was the youngest. The first several sons were all quite old, and all had dealt with the Ming court before.

When Baiyan was still a youth, he had followed his father to reinforce Bobai at Ningxia and had seen the Ming army's grand battle arrays.

"Am I too old? Do you young people all speak like this now?"

Baiyan gave a bitter laugh. "The White Buddha says the same."

Liu Chengzong did not understand. He called Chen Shifo over. "Translate."

He had originally wanted to show off his Mongolian, but considering his pitiful vocabulary — only phrases like 'drop your blade' and 'those who surrender shall not be killed' — he ultimately gave up.

He asked Chen Shifo, "Who is the White Buddha?"

Chen Shifo did not even need to ask Baiyan. He said directly, "The White Buddha is Little Lazun, the reincarnation of the White Buddha, the supreme teacher of all Qinghai Mongols."

Liu Chengzong was stunned for a moment. In his mind, he roughly figured out why Lazun's brothers were all old enough to be his father.

So it turned out Huoluochi had sired this son out of political necessity.

Just like the Fourth Monk of Mongol blood, Huoluochi must have begotten Little Lazun because a living Buddha had said, 'My reincarnation will surely be born into your house,' so Huoluochi made a child in his old age.

"Ask him, does Lazun also want me to pay him tribute? If so, say no more. From here on, each relies on his own skill, and we'll see who pays tribute to whom."

Chen Shifo relayed Liu Chengzong's words to Baiyan. Baiyan's face showed no great disturbance. Still smiling, he said, "I have not come to declare war. You have come to Qinghai and are certain to fight. I am only here to prevent you from fighting us. I will state the terms first. You consider them for a few days. I will stay here."

Liu Chengzong said nothing, only nodded.

Then Baiyan beckoned to his attendant, who came forward carrying a book made of Stellera paper and placed it on the watchtower platform.

Baiyan said, "This is a gift Lazun sends you. Have someone look at it. If you are willing to use it, Lazun will not blame you for the matter of the Seven Tribes of Riyue Mountain, and will even cede Haibei to you, requiring only a thousand horses each year."

Liu Chengzong burst out laughing at this. This Little Lazun — how to put it... he was like a mirror of Qinghai. How could they be so alike?

This fellow conducted affairs almost as if cast from the same mold as him.

"Lazun is so generous, giving me a stretch of land he doesn't even rule." Liu Chengzong laughed heartily. "How about this: you tell Lazun to give me a thousand horses each year, and I will permit him to graze horses in U-Tsang."

Baiyan was extremely uncomfortable. He wanted to fight.

He felt he should never have come. He should have let Little Lazun come himself to talk with this man.

Baiyan had always thought his youngest brother was the person in this world least willing to take a loss. Who knew that now, before him, stood a man even less willing to take a loss than Lazun.

"I hope you understand, the terms Lazun has offered are already very reasonable. You come from the Han lands. Horses are very precious to you, but here they are not."

Baiyan finally furrowed his brow. Unable to control himself, he raised a hand and pointed at Liu Chengzong. "Apart from Haibei, where else in Qinghai do you want to farm? If you were not Han, we would have gone to war the moment you seized Riyue Mountain."

"A thousand horses — Riyue Mountain alone can give you four hundred a year, and Haibei has so many tribesmen. All of this is given to you for free!"

Seeing his anger, Liu Chengzong felt much better.

He chuckled. "Why are you getting upset? U-Tsang is such a fine place. If you went there, couldn't you raise several hundred thousand horses a year? I'm only asking for a thousand."

The Haibei they spoke of was the land north of Qinghai Lake.

Having said this, he dropped his grinning expression and said, "Of course I am going to Haibei. If Lazun can make the tens of thousands of refugees and captives in Haibei all withdraw, I will give him a thousand horses a year. Can he? He cannot. Then why should I give him horses?"

He patted the book Baiyan had brought and waved his hand. "You may stay here, or you may go back and talk things over with Little Lazun. I will look at this thing. We will talk again in a few days."

Deep down, Liu Chengzong was itching for Little Lazun to move troops and attack him here, because he had no way to go attack Little Lazun.

His soldiers were still acclimating to the altitude of the Hehuang Valley. It was over a thousand meters higher than northern Shaanxi. The thinner air made their physical exertion much greater.

This was not a major problem; the Hehuang Valley was the lowest place here.

But further west, into the region around the lake, it would be even higher.

And Little Lazun's White Stone Cliff on the south bank of the Yellow River, though nestled in the southeastern mountains, was at an altitude no lower than the Qinghai lake region.

Even troops from Xining would suffer a day or two of diminished stamina going there, let alone these soldiers of theirs from northern Shaanxi.

That was why they needed to reorganize and train at Ju'erwan before advancing toward the Qinghai Lake region.

Seeing that clearly explaining how trivial a thousand horses were still could not persuade Liu Chengzong, Baiyan simply stopped talking and pinned his hopes on that set of laws. He nodded and said, "Then I shall wait here."

With that, he cast a deep look at Chen Shifo. "Look at it carefully. It will benefit you."

Liu Chengzong noticed Baiyan's gesture. He ordered the guards to take them away, vacate a dugout shelter for them, provide food, and keep them under strict watch. Only then did he ask, "What is this, a scripture?"

Chen Shifo opened it and looked. He said, "Commander, this should be the legal code enacted by the Tsangpa Khan of U-Tsang."

"A legal code?"

For the first time, Liu Chengzong felt puzzled by Little Lazun's intent.

Actually, his impression of Little Lazun was not bad. Demanding a thousand horses a year could hardly be called harsh. From Lazun's perspective, he was even taking a loss.

Because this was simply treating Liu Chengzong like a tax-farmer from the Yuan dynasty era: collect a thousand horses, and the rest was his to keep. It was merely a question of the degree of extortion.

But he had originally thought this would be a set of scriptures or something. Sending a legal code?

It was laughable. He came from the Great Ming, which had the most complete and advanced legal code in the world at this time. What use was sending him this?

It would have been more practical to send him two young women.

Still, he intended to look at it. It could deepen his understanding of U-Tsang. So he said, "Translate this. It's a bit strenuous for you alone. I'll go find a few more people to help translate together, so it goes faster."

Actually, it was not really a matter of speed. This sort of thing could not be left to one person to interpret, or it could easily stray from its original meaning.

He sent men to Xining City to find a few more people, who came back to translate the book together with Chen Shifo. He himself continued drilling the troops. Unexpectedly, his brother sent word that Zuo Guangxian, who had earlier left with Cao Huachun, had returned.

Seeing Zuo Guangxian again, Liu Chengzong felt very strange. "What are you doing back here?"

To his surprise, Zuo Guangxian immediately prostrated himself. "Commander, give me back my soldiers!"

"Huh?"

Liu Chengzong looked utterly baffled. What the hell was Zuo Guangxian saying?

He quite liked it when people kowtowed to him. A while back, Li Bei and Ma Ke had each given him a bow, and he had felt rather pleased inside.

But that was when he wanted others to bow, and he had expended great mental effort to achieve that result.

With Zuo Guangxian, he had done nothing at all. Receiving this prostration made him rather uneasy. He quickly said, "Get up first. What's going on? What do you mean, give you back your soldiers?"

Zuo Guangxian was truly at his wit's end. When he had come, he had over five hundred soldiers under his command.

When they left, they still had over five hundred soldiers.

Liu Chengzong specially allocated him five hundred dan of grain and sent fifty-five donkey carts as recompense for clearing the way and covering the rear during this period.

Three of those carts belonged to Cao Huachun; Eunuch Cao had helped him a great deal, so he sent along some Lion Camp specialties — calligraphy, paintings, utensils, and the like.

In any case, on the day they departed, Liu Chengzong got what he wanted, Cao Huachun escaped his misery, and Zuo Guangxian left his struggles behind — everyone was heading toward a bright future, all in excellent spirits.

But leaving Xining was not quite that for Zuo Guangxian. From the very first day after leaving Xining, his soldiers began falling ill.

One day a squad leader was missing, the next a company commander was gone. By the time they reached Lanzhou and counted heads, three hundred twenty men remained, and twenty carts of army provisions were left.

Cao Huachun was so furious that he simply took his Palace Guard and refused to travel with them anymore — soldiers kept trying to sneak over to the carts the Palace Guard was watching and pilfer things.

Later, Cao Huachun found a military officer in Lanzhou to escort them along the way. Zuo Guangxian went on alone, and on the road his soldiers deserted even faster — completely beyond control.

By the time they reached Long Life Post Station in Anding County, just over a hundred men remained. With five carts of army provisions, there was no way they could make it back to Ningzhou.

With absolutely no other choice, he had to return to Xining and ask Liu Chengzong for men.

Zuo Guangxian refused to rise, firmly convinced that Liu Chengzong had planted people in his ranks to carry out subversion.

Liu Chengzong felt deeply wronged.

He gave a bitter laugh. "I didn't detain your men, and I didn't trip you up. I have no idea where they are."

Zuo Guangxian did not believe him.

Or rather, he was unwilling to believe him.

His soldiers had followed him through so many bitter days, sharing hardship and adversity — they hadn't run.

Setting out with dozens of carts of provisions, every soldier given over ten jin of parched flour — they clearly had grain now, yet they collapsed on their own and scattered in all directions?

He could not accept it.

The last straw in his heart drove him back to Xining — he wanted Liu Chengzong to admit to his face that he had used underhanded tricks behind the scenes to lure the soldiers away.

His soldiers had no education; they were easy to deceive.

Zuo Guangxian prostrated himself and would not rise, his head pressed to the ground, hiding his face deep out of sight.

It left Liu Chengzong somewhat — somewhat caught off guard. This Mobile Corps Commander's shoulders were heaving. If he wasn't hiding his face to stifle laughter, then he had broken down.

Liu Chengzong sighed. He could figure out what Zuo Guangxian's unit had gone through.

Perseverance — for soldiers, for starving refugees — persevering and enduring is the easiest thing in the world.

Taking rations that leave you hungry after eating, carrying bright hopes for the future in your heart, doing nothing at all — just endure and it passes.

No need to resist, no inner struggle, no fear or worry, no need to change your way of life — just carry on as always.

Change is far harder than perseverance. A man who can be a good soldier may not make a good bandit. People are always full of dread at stepping into the unknown.

So as long as no one takes the lead, most people can persist in a half-dead state.

By that comparison, He Renlong was clever after all — he released Cao Yao early on.

Liu Chengzong could even imagine that even if He Renlong hadn't let the soldiers go, he himself would not be soldiering in Yulin right now — most likely he'd be following Cao Yao, turning bandit in the wilds.

Liu Chengzong sighed, waited a long time, and said nothing at all, pretending he hadn't seen Zuo Guangxian's shoulders heaving.

Until he had composed himself and recovered his dignity, quietly wiping his face.

Only then did he step forward and pull Zuo Guangxian up. Meeting Zuo Guangxian's grateful gaze, he said, "Go out and search my camp. I don't care whether they're your soldiers or not — if you find anyone willing to leave with you, my Lion Army has always allowed coming and going freely. You're free to take them away."

Stepping out of the command tent, Liu Chengzong's bodyguards were chatting with Zuo Guangxian's household retainers, which made Zuo Guangxian even more ashamed.

Because his retainer was standing on the hitching post, holding forth eloquently: "What's there to fear about hardship? There's grain to eat! My little ones are still in Yulin, otherwise… General!"

The bodyguards and retainer immediately snapped to attention. As Zuo Guangxian walked past them, the retainer's heart pounded with fear.

Not until Liu Chengzong led Zuo Guangxian past them did the retainer look at the bodyguard, let out a long breath of relief, purse his lips in a smile, and lightly slap himself on the mouth before hurrying after them.

Liu Chengzong had heard every word of their conversation clearly. He said to Zuo Guangxian, "You and I traveled a thousand li together. I won't make things hard for you."

"If you can find men — if you can gather five hundred, I'll let you take them, and I'll even give you a month's marching rations for five hundred men. If you can't find any, going back won't be easy for you to report."

"You came up through the military examinations. I happen to be in need of capable men right now. Have your retainer take a warrant and ride a fast horse back to bring your family and your retainers' families here."

Zuo Guangxian said nothing.

"You're no fun. What is there to be afraid of?"

Liu Chengzong shook his head. "I'm not short on horses. Let them switch mounts freely on the road. If they're fast, they can be back before the new year. If they're slow, they can spend the new year at Prince Han's estate — my men are there. No one can touch them."

Zuo Guangxian furrowed his brow and thought for a long time before speaking. "You have a few hundred wounded soldiers over there — can they hold?"

"A few hundred wounded soldiers can't beat anyone."

Hearing his objection, Liu Chengzong narrowed his eyes and grinned, speaking with utter ease and seriousness: "But they can guarantee the Han fief does not fall."

Zuo Guangxian said, "You mean guarantee they don't make it fall?"

"Isn't that enough? Let me ask you one thing: if I, Liu the Lion, don't open my mouth, who dares lead troops into Pingliang? The moment they enter Pingliang, the Han fief falls immediately."

Liu Chengzong turned to Zuo Guangxian and said, "Aside from Pingliang, to cross the Liupan Mountains by the few remaining roads, they'd all have to go around. So as long as they reach Pingliang, your family is safe — even if there are pursuers, they won't catch up."

Zuo Guangxian did not know.

The idea of joining Liu Chengzong — Zuo Guangxian had glimpsed it in his mind long ago, back when Liu Chengzong was still a bandit.

After all, the bandit had grain and he did not.

But the thought instinctively repelled him, so he never pursued it further.

Yet now, thinking it through carefully, that revulsion truly could not withstand close examination.

Now, was joining a bandit really joining a bandit? Even if Liu Chengzong was a bandit, that rank of Assistant Administrator of the Qinghai Pacification Commissioner's Office, Zhou Qiang, a proper fourth-rank official — that was given by the imperial court.

Besides, his soldiers would get grain.

"Don't be so indecisive. One sentence: either go pick your men, and whether you find any or not, you leave; or stay and serve under me, send your retainer to fetch the families, and fight the northern caitiffs somewhere else."

"The families — can they truly, as the Grand Commander says, arrive safely?" Zuo Guangxian made up his mind and clasped his fists. "If they can reach Xining, I will serve at the Grand Commander's side from now on."

"That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Prefect Zhou's family is in Baoding Prefecture — bringing them here is rather difficult. Your family is in Yulin — what are you afraid of?"

Liu Chengzong calculated quietly in his mind. South from Yulin, He Yong would receive them at Fish River Fort. Entering Yan'an Prefecture, there were Chiliarch Ren Quan'er at the Frontier Gate, Assistant Regional Commander Yang Yanchang of Yan'an Guard, and King of the Fields Gao Yingxiang. Entering Qingyang Prefecture, Magistrate Jiang Yingchang of Heshui County could help. Past Ningzhou, it was Pingliang.

Then just blend into Han Xiaowang's merchant caravan and travel all the way here.

While we're at it, we can also bring Li Bei's family over, which will completely set at ease the heart of the military officer with the highest rank who has transferred to serve under the Lion Army.

Liu Chengzong did not reveal his own plan to him, but simply said, "Then there's no time to lose. I'll go find someone to write a letter, and have your household retainers set off within the next couple of days."