Han Khan

Chapter 10: What is the way out?

"I died yesterday, killed by your soldiers, but the great god, the Most High God, resurrected me and gave me revelation and authority.

Lord Haotian ordered me to go to the West, to re-develop the Han country there, so I have been resurrected again, and I am going to spread the will of Lord Haotian and rebuild the Han country with my mission.

For the Zhang family, in order to prevent the Zhang family from disappearing into oblivion! I am the direct descendant of the great hero Zhang Yichao!
I am going to Mobei. The Khan of the Kyrgyz people in Jinshan, Jianhe and Duoluosi is my uncle.

Now the one who rules the northern desert is my uncle, the Khitan Khan Li. The Naimans, Tatars, and Uighurs in the north and south of the desert all obey my uncle's orders and are under his control, so I can temporarily commit myself to him and then plan for other things." Zhang Sheng said easily.

(Golden Mountain: Altai Mountains, Sword River: Yenisei River, Doros River: Irtysh River)
The world is so big, why should he stay in small Dunhuang and live a cowardly life? He even less wants to go to the muddy waters of the Central Plains where there is endless fighting.

In the minds of the people in the Central Plains, his Zhang family was a barbarian, a mixed Hu. It was so difficult for them to survive in the Central Plains, not to mention that the Ganzhou Uighurs, who had more than 400,000 people, blocked the way to the east. "I, Zhang Sheng, am a barbarian!!"

"Erlang, what nonsense are you talking about? Aren't you standing here fine? How can you say you're dead?" Cao Yijin looked at Zhang Sheng with some guilt and shock.

Yesterday, the guards told him that Zhang Sheng had indeed been killed and was dead.

But this morning, the scouts replied from Zhang Sheng's troops that a golden light flashed last night, and the son of the emperor walked out of the coffin and was resurrected! At that time, he angrily scolded the guards and scouts for talking nonsense.

So he sent a messenger to Zhang Sheng's camp early in the morning to express his desire for peace talks.

Now, Zhang Sheng was indeed standing in front of him.

So from the moment he saw Zhang Sheng, he was extremely shocked, but he was also thinking in his heart that maybe the scout had seen it wrong.

Zhang Sheng opened the collar under his armor and turned sideways in front of Cao Yijin, allowing Cao Yijin to see the horrific scars on Zhang Sheng's abdomen and lower back.

"You killed Zhang Sheng. You killed the great-grandson of Taibao Gong, his only direct descendant." Zhang Sheng looked calmly at the red-bearded Sogdian thief in front of him. The future Guiyi Army would be completely Uighurized under the leadership of his descendants.

"And now......?"

"Yes, now I am resurrected. God Haotian didn't want me to die, so he resurrected me and let me live for His will and the mission he gave me." Zhang Sheng said.

"There is no point in saying more. I am willing to negotiate with you and will leave here, but I have a request." Zhang Sheng changed the subject and no longer involved Cao Yijin in this topic.

"I almost forgot that Erlang is half Khitan. Now I remember that Erlang's mother is from Mobei, from the Aje clan of the Khanate."

“I didn’t expect that!
My cousin did marry a good queen, and Jinshan is indeed a good place... Jinshan Kingdom, Jinshan, this may really be a blessing from God. It seems that Erlang is worthy of the name to rebuild Jinshan Kingdom. "Cao Yijin responded absentmindedly.

Zhang Jia Erlang died in the battle, then resurrected, and now says he wants to leave Dunhuang. The things he couldn't understand kept plucking his heartstrings.

In the Western Regions and Hexi, there are many religions and mixed beliefs, so the people here always believe in something and are devout in their beliefs.

Then, no matter whether they were nobles or common people, they were particularly particular about bloodline, and now the Han people have also been infected with this problem, which is what the history books describe about the Western Regions Hu people as "barbarians attaching importance to bloodline." It is probably to emphasize their own legitimacy and to emphasize that they are superior to others. This is a small-town bad habit.

The aristocratic families in Dunhuang have always considered themselves as noble Han families, but the reality is that they are forced by the situation. The population structure of the Hu people and Han people in Dunhuang going to Linyi is equal, so these aristocratic families have long been mixed with the blood of Sogdians and Uighurs.

The Zhang family is no exception. Cao Yijin, Zhang Sheng, and many other Dunhuang people are good examples. Their cheekbones, high nose bridge, deep eye sockets, and curly hair are the most obvious characteristics of the Hu people.

Zhang Sheng's mother was a Khitan. Her white skin, green eyes and black hair were the natural characteristics of the Khanate's Aje clan or Li clan.

After his mother gave birth to his first son, she died of illness due to weakness. He inherited his mother's tribe of one thousand accounts. The people under his command recognized him as their leader (chief, master) and obeyed his orders. Therefore, the people under his command are now a mixture of Han and Tibetan, and they speak mainly Tang language.

Zhang Sheng can go to Mobei to seek refuge with his uncle and get asylum. To be honest, this really makes Cao Yijin envious. His Cao family is best at marriage. Now they have a lot of marriages with Dunhuang aristocratic families, Ganzhou Uighurs, and Khotan, just to find allies. "Okay, Erlang, it seems that you have made up your mind to go, so I will not stop you. Erlang, what other conditions do you have?" Cao Yijin looked at Zhang Sheng and said.

"Release Zhang's farmers and slaves, as well as the families of my tribesmen and those who followed Zhang, and give them 500 sets of iron armor, 500 swords, 2 arrows, 500 bows, 1000 horses, 1000 spears, and 3000 dan of grain. If you don't give them, then there is no need to discuss anything and we will continue to fight." Zhang Sheng told Cao Yijin his conditions.

"I promise you that tomorrow at this time and place, these things and manpower will be returned to you." Cao Yijin thought for a while and said decisively.

"Then let's make a deal with the Lord of Heaven and our ancestors as witnesses. You release my tribesmen, subjects and their families, and return their property, and I will withdraw from Dunhuang and never come back," said Zhang Sheng.

From beginning to end, Cao Yijin kept a very humble attitude.

The attitude shown by Zhang Sheng today let Cao Yijin know that his ambition was not to seek to regain the position of Jiedushi in Dunhuang.

"Goodbye." After saying this, Zhang Sheng turned around, rode on the warhorse that Kozara had brought over, and under the protection of fifty armored cavalrymen, he slapped his legs and drove the horse away from here and returned to his army.

Cao Yijin looked at the decisive figure, wondering what he was thinking. He watched the majestic backs of the more than 2,000 cavalrymen leaving, and just said, "The men of the Zhang family have grown up." Then he also rode his horse and led his army back to Dunhuang.

After Zhang Sheng led the army back to the camp, it was almost dark. The camp was an oasis and the soldiers had pitched tents. Except for the soldiers on patrol in shifts, the rest of the soldiers gathered around the campfires outside the tents.

Beside Zhang Sheng were his guards and several centurions. "Chongren, send people to kill cattle and sheep and prepare the food. Koza, Temugo, call the other centurions over. I have something to say to them."

Zhang Sheng instructed the captain of the 100 cavalry, Liang Xingde, and two personal guards who were from the Khitan and Tatar tribes, and the three of them excitedly responded and left.

In a short while, more than ten cows and a hundred sheep were slaughtered by the soldiers holding short knives. Their skins were peeled off one by one, and all the cows and sheep were slaughtered in a short while.

While slaughtering cattle and sheep, several women began to pour washed corn into several large pots on temporary stoves. Pieces of beef and mutton were poured into the large pots filled with corn, and they started to cook oil-braised rice (pilaf). The aroma immediately spread throughout the camp.

After the meal was cooked, the women distributed it to every soldier in line. Nearly a thousand people gathered in the open space inside and outside the camp. Everyone was busy eating, and no one spoke. After they finished eating, the soldiers on patrol would take turns.

The meal was also very rich. Each person had a piece of meat and a large bowl of corn with salt and rich oil. But for these soldiers who had never had enough to eat since childhood and most of them came from slaves and poor families, the meal was simply too rich and delicious to be matched.

In Zhang Sheng's big tent, more than twenty people including Zhang Zhongxian, his cousin Zhang Chengming, Liang Xingde, Yin Shanxiong, Zhang Xibao, his brothers, Zhang Congwu, Keza, Duobo, Tiemuge, Yanzhi, etc., sat on both sides of Zhang Sheng.

These people are elite cavalry captains, centurions, guards and other senior officers under Zhang Sheng.

They were all Zhang Sheng's generals and served as officers and guards of his own army.

They were like the Mongolian Nakers, the Japanese samurai, and the Frankish knights, all of whom were dependent on Zhang Sheng and regarded him as their lord. They had finished their meal long ago and were sitting quietly on both sides of Zhang Sheng.

Zhang Sheng needs to explain to them the current situation and the future path after leaving Dunhuang, so as to reassure people.

"My fellow warriors, the Jinshan Kingdom is gone, and now there is no place for us to stand in Dunhuang and Guasha.

We are leaving here. You and I are both brave warriors. There is a lot of land in the world that we cannot go to, but Dunhuang is not a good place to go. "

After Zhang Sheng finished speaking, he glanced at the reactions of the crowd. There was no reaction at all. In fact, almost all of them were Zhang's servants and impoverished people in Dunhuang. Only a few of them were branches of the big families in Dunhuang. They had long regarded Zhang Sheng as their leader and understood their current situation. They just sighed.

"We follow His Royal Highness the Prince as our leader. Wherever His Royal Highness goes, we will follow. However, the families of some of us are still in Dunhuang, Your Highness..." Yin Shanxiong said at the right time. This was also the problem of everyone. Although they were Zhang's followers, household slaves, and farmers, they were not real slaves. They and Zhang Sheng were as close as brothers.

(End of this chapter)