Legend of Great Tang’s Twin Dragons

‘Dang! Dang! Dang!’

The five bell towers, located inside the palace and the four city gates, respectively, were sounded at the same time. The melodious sound contained a hidden moving and tragic, desolate feeling, because this was the death knell to mourn the demise of Bai Ziting, the emperor, hence only after it was sounded forty-nine times that it finally stopped. Translated by foxs

Amidst the stately knell, the hearse carrying the remains of Bai Ziting who killed himself, pulled by eight warhorses, escorted before and after by a hundred imperial bodyguards, proceeded in a heavy pace, leaving the Vermilion Bird Gate, stepping into the Vermilion Bird Boulevard, heading toward the south gate.

Along the sides of the road, the military and civilians lined the street to say goodbye, the sound of wailing shook the sky, not only to express their inner pain for the tragic end of the leader who once gave them the hope for the future brimming with vision, but even more, to weep with grief over the imminent great disaster of the extermination of their entire tribe.

Although the knell failed to drown the sound of earth-shaking battle drum coming from outside the city, it provided food for thought and provoked the voiceless sound of reflection over the essence of death. It did not fit with the murderous noise of the battle drums at all; on the contrary, the murderous noise of the battle drums was substantially cut down, until the drums suddenly stopped, leaving only the remaining of the knell floating into the vast night sky outside the city.

The Tujue Army’s vanguard unit stopped more than a thousand paces outside the south gate and lined themselves up in battle array, no longer advancing forward.

The south gate was wide open. The fire in the lighthouse, representing the honor and disgrace of the Longquan Upper Capital – was blazing, illuminating the area outside the city as bright as daytime. However, infected by the sound of the bells, behind the glorious blaze was an atmosphere thick with a declining and desolate feeling.

Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, Ba Fenghan, Song Shidao, and a group of Longquan’s high-ranking military officers assembled outside the south gate, silently waited for the arrival of the hearse. foxswuxia.wordpress.com

None of Zong Xianghua, Kesubie, and the others shed tears. The knell has transformed their humiliation and grief and indignation into strength. This moment, no one was willing to show their weak side to the enemy.

This was precisely Kou Zhong’s tactic in using psychological warfare against psychological warfare, in using Bai Ziting’s fantastic funeral to unite the state of mind of Longquan’s army and civilians, to turn the Sumo warriors into lamenting troops, which the enemy would not dare to despise, to send a message to Xieli that Sumo people might fight until the last soldier, the last pawn, but they would never surrender, assuming that the conditions of surrender were unacceptable.

The hearse drove through the deep and long gateway, and stopped outside the south gate.

‘Dang! Dang! Dang!’

After the forty-ninth knell, the solemn stillness, which weighed down the human’s heart like a chunk of lead – ensued.

The drivers of the hearse left their seats and were replaced by Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling. Translated by foxs

Kesubie shouted, “Respectfully seeing Da Wang off!”

All officers and soldiers immediately kneeled down, hot tears could not stop bursting out of their eye sockets; indeed it was bitter tears brimming with resentment, indignation and humiliation.

Kou Zhong raised the whip, it whistled as it circled in the air, and when it fell back, it lightly lashed on the horse’s buttock. The warhorse neighed and pulled the hearse, galloping toward the enemy ranks. Kou Zhong took a backward glance, his heart ached, he said with a sigh, “This time I really have no assurance; Ling Shao, what do you think?”

From the enemy ranks, the bugle horn sounded, suddenly nearly a thousand riders left the formation and galloped like a whirlwind toward the two boys driving the hearse, straight with hiding-the-sky-and-covering-the-earth, swaying-the-mountains-and-rocking-the-peaks astonishing might.

Xu Ziling, however, acted as if he did not see it. Smiling wryly, he said, “Since Xieli has come prepared this time, he definitely won’t want to return empty-handed. Negotiation will be very difficult, and Da Zuorong will more likely be the tight knot in the negotiation.” foxswuxia.wordpress.com

The horses’ neigh shook the heavens. As if they were performing fancy tricks, the Tujue warriors rushed until they were close, before pulling the rein and shouting at the same time. The warhorse reared on their hind legs, like a wave sweeping across the grassland, and then separated left and right. It was an exquisite equestrianism, a perfect disposition of troops, making people gasp in amazement.

By this time, the Sumo warriors and Ba, Song, and the others had returned into the city and closed the gate behind them. Hearing the loud beating of the horses’ hoof on the left and right shaking the heavens, the two groups of a thousand troops each separately charged from both sides toward the hearse, as if they wanted to turn over and crush both the people and the carriage, the warhorses pulling the cart were frightened, they were jumping continuously, making it extremely difficult for Kou Zhong to control.

Kou Zhong spoke hatefully, “Tuli, that kid, is lacking yiqi [spirit of loyalty and self-sacrifice/code of brotherhood] too much; unexpectedly when we need him the most, he did not appear. His granny’s bear!”

Xu Ziling spoke heavily, “He has his own difficulties. The leaders of the tribes and societies in the prairie are different from the emperors and masters of the Central Earth; they must listen to the other tribal chiefs’ opinions.”

Two teams of Tujue riders galloped almost a zhang away from both sides; when it looked like they were about to knock the hearse over, suddenly each group divided itself into two, and flitted past in front and behind the cart, becoming a big, flowing fork, with the hearse located right in the middle of the intersection.

A moment later, the cavalry went away. Translated by foxs

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Kou Zhong said, “Even if we trained for ten lifetimes, we won’t be able to train to such a formidable cavalry team level. Although knowing perfectly well that they are just showing off, I am still scared that I am having cold sweats all over.”

Xu Ziling kept his gaze forward, “They are coming again,” he spoke heavily.

The covering the mountains and the plains Tujue cavalry emerged from the top of the small hill where the Khan banner was, like a tide sweeping over toward them. It reminded them that were it not for solid city walls of the Central Earth, each cun of the land would have been trampled by the Tujue’s iron hoofs early on.

As the two boys’ scalp went numb, front and back, left and right, were all valiant Tujue cavalry, just like a raging ocean about to drown the field all around them.

Two Tujue soldiers took the bridle of the first two horses at the front, leading the hearse forward. The enemy’s morale was like a rainbow; everybody’s spirit was trembling with excitement, their eyes revealing ominous glint, they stared and shouted at Kou and Xu, two boys. foxswuxia.wordpress.com

If the other side used violence, even if the two boys’ martial art skill was doubled, they would still be dead. No doubt about it.

With the thousands of Tujue warriors crowded around them, the hearse continued to speed up, winding around the small hill, toward a large open space in the midst of the army tents standing in great numbers. Several thousands of warriors were assembled there. More than a dozen arrow targets were set up on the far end of the open space. Xieli and Zhao Deyan, Tonyukuk, Kang Qiaoli, and so on, a group of more than twenty high-ranking military officers, under escort of their personal guards, were having fun in archery practice, but Ke Dazhi and Xiang kid were not among these people.

As the two boys saw such scene, they knew that the turn of events was far from good. The other side was deploying their troops while chatting and laughing, steadily occupying the upper hand. Yet they were going to offer Bai Ziting’s remains to seek peace. The difference in position was clear and easy to see.

‘Swish!’

Xieli pulled the big bow into a full moon, he shot the powerful arrow across the distance of nearly five hundred paces, hitting the bullseye, instantly provoking the over ten thousand warriors around him to cheer excitedly. Their shout rushed straight to the heavens. The blazing torches painted everything blood red, showing clearly even before the outbreak of the war that violence and injuries and death could happen any moment; the atmosphere made people’s blood boiling.

The hearse stopped.

Reluctantly Xieli handed the big bow over to his subordinate, he beckoned the two boys and said, “Shaoshuai, Ziling, please come over!”

‘Swish! Swish! Swish!’ Translated by foxs

More than a dozen arrows were shot by the crowd of generals, none did not hit the bullseye on the target faraway, provoking another round of shaking-the-heavens cheers.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling jumped down the carriage and walked over toward the place where Xieli and the others were standing. The former raised his spirit, laughed aloud and said, “Great Khan’s elegant manner is still as before, it is worthy of celebration.”

At first, Xieli’s countenance sank, but then he smiled. Roaring in laughter, he said, “Thanks to you! Thanks to you! I wonder if Shaoshuai is delivering the Five-Colored Stone for them. Ha!”

Even Xu Ziling did not understand why as soon as Kou Zhong opened his mouth, he said ‘elegant manner is still as before’. This remark was actually a compliment, but being used on Xieli, who had suffered defeat in the battle of the Rushing Wolf Plain, it became frigid irony and scorching satire. Infuriating Xieli like this, what benefit could it be for their negotiation? But taking a deeper look, he knew that even currying favor with him would not necessarily bring any benefit either.

Acting like an old friend, Kou Zhong came to Xieli’s side, whose shiny baldhead reflected the torchlights all around, and spoke lightly, “This time Xiaodi is delivering a person and not a stone; I wonder if Great Khan can put up with it a bit.”

The two men’s sharp gaze clashed with each other, neither one gave way to the other. foxswuxia.wordpress.com

Zhao Deyan, Tonyukuk, and the others, more than twenty high-ranking military officers and tribal chiefs, each and everyone revealed a proud look on their face, adopting a grasp-it-and-victory-is-assured air.

From the corner of Xieli’s mouth, a hint of smile started to appear, which gradually exploded into a loud laughter as he said, “Easy to raise an army of one thousand, but hard to find a good general [idiom]. As long as Shaoshuai gives me a nod, I, Xieli will go all out to help you hunting the deer in the Central Plain [idiom; please see Deer and Cauldron, Chapter 1, translated by yours truly for more on this idiom]. You want men, you will get men, you want horses, you will get horses.”

This moment Zhao Deyan bent the bow and shot an arrow, which hit the distant target. Kou Zhong clapped his hands and said, “Good arrow technique. Why don’t Yan Shuai demonstrate your prairie equestrian archery skill to broaden our horizon?”

Xu Ziling began to understand Kou Zhong’s strategy a little bit, which was to create diversions, to chatter some random remarks as much as possible to divide the enemy’s attention, not to allow the opposite side to follow the prescribed order of proceeding according to their drawn up plan, which was practically seeking a way in the midst of no way.

Zhao Deyan was extremely shrewd, he did not get angry at all that Kou Zhong was secretly mocking him that he was pretending to be a Tujue. Looking at Kou Zhong, he smiled and said, “This time Shaoshuai came to the prairie, if you only want to see me practicing equestrian archery, I guarantee that you will return in disappointment.” Translated by foxs

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “What I want to see more is your virtuous disciple, Yushan Xiong’s mighty disposition on horseback, to see if he is more imposing than Yan Shuai. We are indeed late-to-know, late-to-realize; it was not until tonight that we found out about Baling Bang’s relationship with Yan Shuai.”

No longer paying attention to Zhao Deyan, whose countenance changed slightly, he turned toward Xieli and said, “Great Khan is willing to supply men and horses, that is what I, Kou Zhong, seek but fail to get. However, Niang had taught me not to covet convenience; there is also an adage from the ancient times about the rabbit is dead the dog is boiled alive. How would Great Khan assuage my misgivings?”

Xu Ziling stood silently on Kou Zhong’s other side; what he saw shocked the eye, astonished the heart. According to his assessment, this time the Golden Wolf Army certainly came to the east in full power, the number of men nearly doubled the battle of the Rushing Wolf Plain; the military strength was over fifty thousand men. In addition to the ten-thousand-man vanguard troops threatening the Longquan’s south gate, the rest were bustling incessantly around the camp, cutting down trees to build all kinds of equipment to besiege the city, demonstrating to them their preparation and determination to attack Longquan. foxswuxia.wordpress.com

The City of Longquan’s force was between fifteen to twenty thousand men. Even though everybody was determined to fight to the death, but in term of scale, the city of Longquan, which was acclaimed as the Little Chang’an, was still far inferior to Luoyang and Chang’an. If Zhao Deyan was indeed an expert in besieging a city like the rumor said, Longquan definitely would not last too many days.

Xieli cheerfully said, “Shaoshuai is a very unusual Han man; your person is fast, your tongue is also fast, you are straightforward and honest, unlike other Han people whose mouth does not agree with their heart. All right, I’ll be frank. If I can help Shaoshuai defeating the Li Family of Guanzhong, I want Shaoshuai to give me Youzhou [ancient province in north Hebei and Liaoning]. Returning politeness for politeness, we no longer owe each other, hereafter whether we want to fight or we want peace, it will depend on your respected opinion.”

Youzhou was precisely Gao Kaidao’s territory, which included Shanhai Pass. If it fell into the Tujue’s hands, then the Tujue would occupy a major military foothold northeast of the Central Plains, they could progressively expand and nibble away at the other territories, unlike before, a lone army penetrating the enemy’s territory deeply, after looting for a bit they had to retreat immediately.

Laughing involuntarily, Kou Zhong said, “Youzhou is not mine, Kou Zhong’s, how could I give it to Great Khan as a present?”

Tonyukuk, who had been listening attentively together with the other Tujue big tribal chiefs, spoke indifferently, “If Shaoshuai could wipe out the Li Family, the world would be the object inside Shaoshuai’s bag; such an insignificant Youzhou, naturally Shaoshuai would be able to be the master.”

Xieli spoke with serious expression, “During your distinguished country’s Western Wei [of the Northern dynasties (535-557AD)] period, our Tujue’s Rouran was defeated and forced to move to the northern wilderness. His troops defeated, Rouran Khan Anaxiang killed himself. My ancestors Ashina Tumen [or Bumin Khan (-553), founder of Göktürk khanate] established the Tujue Khanate, proclaiming himself hegemon over the prairie, their territory was more extensive than the Xiongnu of the ancient times, their scale was even more unprecedentedly huge. It’s a pity that later on it split up into the East and West, two Khanates. When Yang Jian unified the Central Plain, time and again he invaded our territory, while also employed driving-a-wedge scheme to split us apart, causing the various tribes of our prairie fall into endless civil war. The East and West Khanates are complex and reaching far into the indefinite future; left with no choice we had to deploy our troops to the Central Earth. But our national policy has always been attempting to unite first before speaking about others. Shaoshuai, do you understand what I mean?” Translated by foxs

Kou Zhong began to feel that Xieli was able to become the supreme leader of the Tujue, it was due to his set of skills; his speech was powerfully persuasive, he was able to set aside his hatred toward Kou Zhong, and only asked for long-term benefit.

Xu Ziling however, had a different feeling. He mused over the differences between he and Kou Zhong. If the one negotiating with Xieli was he instead of Kou Zhong, perhaps he would have categorically rejected Xieli’s proposal early on. But it would only mess and destroy things up, the outcome would be the calamity of the massacre of everyone in the city. In politics, it does not matter whether the intention is good or bad, what matters is the outcome; even more, in politics, there is no eternal enemy, there is only eternal benefit. Xieli was precisely this kind of person, and Kou Zhong understood the rules of the game. Although he, Xu Ziling understood, he could not possibly do it; therefore, it was absolutely inadvisable for him to touch politics.

Sun Tzu’s Art of War says, ‘All warfare is based on deception’, in other words, strategy was precisely some kind of brilliant deception. After one accurately grasps the objectivity of the situation, the enemy’s and our strength and way of thinking, one would start ‘moving after the plan is decided’, ‘able but showing inability’, ‘near but showing distance’. After taking unfair advantage of the enemy, deceiving the enemy, swindling the enemy, then one can subdue the enemy. foxswuxia.wordpress.com

The reality of the world was cold and heartless. All that current virtuous cause was merely an excessive emphasis on ideals and moral quagmire, which could not stand the test of time. Just like the Tujue Army before their eyes, it could only be considered from the interests of one’s own people; obeying me you live, opposing me you die. Kou Zhong must begin from pros and cons, only then would he obtain the maximum benefit at the cost of minimum sacrifice.

Therefore, Xu Ziling’s allotted share was only to listen.

Kou Zhong smiled and said, “Great Khan thinks so highly of me, how could I not be overwhelmed by the favor from superior? We could take our time in making decision on this matter; this time I came …”

Xieli waved his hand to cut him off, “If Shaoshuai immediately withdraw from our dispute with the Sumo tribe, I, Xieli, will definitely pay you back. In the end, not only Bai Ziting and you are neither relative nor a friend; furthermore, he was a despicable and shameless enemy, why does Shaoshuai think it’s worth sticking out your head for this not-knowing-his-own-capacity idiot?”

Zhao Deyan laughed evilly and said, “This time the one provoking the weapons of war was Bai Ziting and not us at all; even in accordance with Central Earth’s Jianghu rules, we are toiling our army in a military expedition, we can’t simply go back empty-handed; don’t two gentlemen think so?” Translated by foxs

Kou Zhong smiled and said, “Can Xiaodi ask gentlemen a question?”

Tonyukuk slyly replied, “We all are people of reason; Shaoshuai, please bestow your instruction.”

Xu Ziling felt big headache; the opposite side’s strategy was to adopt talking-reason everywhere, instead of using their strength to mistreat people, which made it harder for Kou Zhong to ward off.

Looking at the starry sky above, it was quite half a day later that Kou Zhong finally said, “I wonder what is gentlemen’s impression on Song JinGang and Li Shimin’s battle of Baibi [lit. cedar wall]?”

Xieli was slightly startled; showing displeasure, he snorted coldly and said, “If Shaoshuai is only interested in this aspect, do we need to waste valuable time in here?” foxswuxia.wordpress.com

Xu Ziling was unable to make any sense of the matter either. Song JinGang and the Tujue allied forces attacked Taiyuan, suffered crushing defeat and returned, it was Xieli’s serious setback in his attempt to invade the Central Earth. Kou Zhong forcefully exposing his scar, it would only provoke Xieli’s unhappiness; why did he do that?

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Great Khan, please don’t get angry. We Han people have a saying, ‘don’t forget past events, they can guide you in the future’ [idiom]. Post-war review is surely beneficial without any harm, it could prevent following the track of an overturned cart in the future.”

Xieli struggled hard to suppress his rage, he coldly said, “I am listening.”

Kou Zhong calmly said, “The reason Song JinGang suffered a crushing defeat at Baibi was not because his strength could not match the enemy’s, but because his strategy was wrong. If it were a frontal decisive battle, Li Shimin would undoubtedly be defeated; but Li Shimin carried out the ‘being first does not result in victory, using waiting for the enemy to seize victory’ brilliant strategy; he accurately saw Song JinGang’s lone army penetrating deeply, hence although his troops were exquisite and his generals fierce, the overall direction was still, at the last moment, looting rations and fodder to support the huge army; without being able to employ blitzkrieg strategy, he had to pack his bag and leave before he finished eating. Thereupon when the number one commander-in-chief expert in defense of the present age Li Shimin implemented the fortifying-defense-and-razing-the-fields focused strategy, plus carrying out the guerilla warfare by using smaller teams in sudden and violent attack to disturb the enemy, by the time Song JinGang exhausted his provisions completely, when he was forced to retreat, Li Shimin cut his tail and delivered a punishing blow. Does Great Khan understand what I mean?”

Xieli, Zhao Deyan, Tonyukuk, Kang Qiaoli, and the others, none did not show angry expression, the murderous aura in their pair of eyes flared greatly.

Xu Ziling knew that Kou Zhong was gambling by taking this risk, by using the battle of Baibi metaphor to describe the current situation, striving for the capital for negotiation. The most extreme point was to demonstrate that he could see through the allied armies circumstances. Xieli’s army was indeed not something that the insignificant Longquan army would be able to withstand. But if they had Kou Zhong, who was adept in defending a city just like Li Shimin – in charge, perhaps it would not be easy for Xieli to carryout his blitzkrieg strategy. Translated by foxs

Under this kind of circumstances, Tuli’s support would become the decisive factor. Would he be willing to attack the city guarded by the brothers with whom he had undergone life and death together? Even greater possibility was that he might watch with folded arms. Besides, Tuli’s attitude might influence Pusa, Tiefuyou, and Abaojia. In this case, Xieli’s risk in besieging the city would rise substantially. In case they were caught in a stalemate, the Golden Wolf Army would become the lone army penetrating deep into the enemy’s territory. In case they were caught in no room to advance or to retreat situation, his position would most likely be taken over by Tuli. Because Xieli and Tuli’s reconciliation was merely based on mutual interest. The trust between the two sides was conditional and limited.

Sumo warriors were well known to be brave and good at fighting in the northeast, otherwise Xieli would not need to personally command the army coming to the east. And now that they even became the grieving army, no one would dare to underestimate their strength. foxswuxia.wordpress.com

With this speech, Kou Zhong immediately pulled back a little bit of upper hand, plus he did not directly make Xieli losing face.

Rolling his crafty eyes, Zhao Deyan pretended to be surprised, saying, “I did not expect Shaoshuai being this far away in the prairie, yet toward events that have been happening in the Central Earth you still know as clearly as if you witness it yourself. I wonder if Shaoshuai also know about Li Shentong pressing against Liyang to help Li Shiji?”

Laughing calmly, Kou Zhong said, “I seem to have heard of such his mother’s thing. However, Dou Jiande, Wang Shichong, are still healthy and alive. Yuwen Huaji was defeated, there are no more links between the three sides, Liyang became a House of Tang’s lone, baseless military strategic city outside the Pass, which Dou and Wang, two men both want to obtain it. The ones who should be worried are the two gentlemen and Old Li, and should not be me, Kou Zhong?”

Laughing involuntarily, Zhao Deyan said, “Shaoshuai’s insight is penetrating. Precisely because Liyang is lone and baseless outside the Pass that defending it to the death becomes lower priority. Li Shimin dealing big defeat on Song JinGang’s remaining might, he must be greatly spreading out his fist and feet this moment by protecting Liyang. The three sides are fighting, the circumstances critical, making one wonders why is Shaoshuai still seems to have endless time to spend, disregarding the newly-formed Shao Shuai Army and the task of establishing and maintaining hegemony in the Central Plain, exhausting your energy in messing around with chicken feather, garlic skin little matters beyond the Great Wall that have nothing to do with you? It is puzzling indeed.”

This remark indeed hit Kou Zhong’s vital part, rendering him almost dumbstruck and unable to reply. Translated by foxs

Finally Xu Ziling was unable to bear it, he spoke heavily, “Shaoshuai is not doing this for Bai Ziting, but for Longquan’s innocent people and for Xiufang Dajia. Perhaps Great Khan will not listen to this, but Bai Ziting has committed suicide, supposing the Sumo tribe dismantle the city wall and come up with reasonable compensation, I wonder if Great Khan could give favor so that Longquan won’t need to fall into rivers of blood situation. Great Khan’s benevolence will only win back an even higher reputation for Great Khan, it won’t damage Great Khan’s fame for fighting prowess the least bit.”

Startled, Xieli said, “Xiufang Dajia?”

At this point, the negotiation was finally entering the critical phase.