Fen Dui frowned thoughtfully for a moment before finally shaking her head:
"Most Western Region merchant caravans trade gold and silverware—foreign bottles, cups, and plates are common. While I've seen many vessels shaped like this pot, none bore dragon-horse cloud patterns like this one. My knowledge is limited, and I can't recall anything useful. I've failed Master's expectations and feel utterly ashamed."
The four continued questioning Fen Dui, mainly about the situation in the Tuyuhun kingdom. Unfortunately, the dark-haired foreign girl knew little. Before being reduced to servitude, she had lived a sheltered life in her father's household, rarely venturing out or engaging with merchant affairs. Her most vivid memory of Longshang and Xiliang was the violent upheaval two years prior that destroyed her family.
First came the straight columns of wolf smoke from beacon towers outside the city on a clear day. Then the city guards mobilized and rode out to reinforce defenses—yet somehow failed to repel the invaders. The defending soldiers were overwhelmed. Amidst a sky dark with arrows, cavalrymen with braided hair howled as they flooded through the earthen city gates like a deluge, spreading through streets and alleys to burn, kill, and pillage without restraint... Flaming torches first landed on her family's roof and courtyard, followed by their door being kicked open by hooves...
As Fen Dui spoke, tears welled in her eyes, drawing sighs of sympathy from all present. A soft young voice murmured:
"The Xiongnu have human faces but beastly hearts—foreign to our kind. When strong, they raid; when weak, they feign submission. Gratitude and righteousness mean nothing to them—such is their nature. Peace is the root of transformation. When the Central Plains are secure, the barbarians naturally submit. Why abandon virtue for endless war inviting downfall? When ambition overflows, calamity follows..."
It was Wei Shufen muttering to herself. Her underlying meaning was clear—the court shouldn't wage "pointless wars against barbarians" in those uncivilized lands beyond Longshang and Hexi, but rather retreat behind the passes to secure their borders. Li Yuangui immediately grasped her implication, his brow furrowing in discomfort.
Since childhood, his aspirations had centered on mounted combat and expanding frontiers. Wei Shufen's pedantic scholar's views likely came from her father—what could a young girl possibly understand about military and state affairs?
Chai Yingluo also glanced at Wei Shufen and suddenly laughed:
"A Fen, let me ask you something—don't take offense."
"Sister Ying, please ask."
"Can you distinguish between the Xiongnu, Turks, Xianbei, and Tuyuhun tribes?"
"Uh..." Wei Shufen flushed. "The Xiongnu are long gone—I was just making a comparison..."
"Do you know which is westernmost or northernmost among Longshang, Xiliang, Dunhuang, and Qinghai? Which borders which?"
"Well... anyway... they're all barren, desolate foreign lands where crops won't grow... not worth spilling Han men's blood to fill ditches..."
Exactly—just parroting her father's words. Wei Shufen herself grew increasingly uncertain as she spoke, her eyes unconsciously darting toward Li Yuangui before immediately looking down in silence.
"Since we have an expert here, why doesn't Fourteenth Uncle explain from the beginning?" Chai Yingluo smiled at Li Yuangui. "After two years of daily palace talk about conquering Tuyuhun, my ears are calloused. Where exactly is this barbarian kingdom? What crimes did they commit to warrant Celestial troops marching so far to punish them?"
Li Yuangui returned her smile. "As the High Truth Master commands—ah, if only we were in the Imperial Study with a wooden map or sand table, this would be much easier to explain—wait, I have an idea!"He propped himself up with his elbows and rose from the sitting bed, calling to his companion:
"Xinzhi, come here, come here. Lie down right here."
"...Your Highness?" The tall, sturdy youth couldn't quite believe his ears.
"Stop dawdling! Get over here quickly and lie flat!"
The private chamber wasn't carpeted, and the tiled floor was cold and hard. That was bad enough, but lying sprawled out in such an undignified position in front of others was extremely rude, especially with women present.
Yang Xinzhi wore a pained expression but didn't dare disobey his master's order. He first stood up and apologized to everyone—"High Truth Master, please forgive me," "Wei Niangzi, please forgive me"—until Li Yuangui grew thoroughly impatient. Only then did he move to the center of the room, slowly lie down, stretch out his limbs, close his eyes, and resign himself to fate.
His heaving body looked exactly like a yearling pig laid out on a butcher's block, ready for slaughter.
The young women in the room couldn't help but burst into laughter. Li Yuangui stood beside Yang Xinzhi and began his explanation, first pointing to the area over the young man's chest:
"Let's consider this spot here as the capital, Chang'an. Xinzhi's body will represent our Great Tang—or at least the western half of our territory. Think of it this way for now, just grasp the main idea. The heart is the ruler of all internal organs, just as the capital is where the lifeblood of the entire nation converges. Any damage here would throw the whole country into chaos—this much you surely understand."
He stepped over Yang Xinzhi's right arm and lightly tapped the massive head with the tip of his boot:
"Chang'an is located in the northwest of the Central Plains, not far from powerful enemies beyond our borders, making it highly vulnerable to invasions by nomadic armies. During the chaotic final years of the Sui dynasty, the northern Turks grew strong—let's consider Xinzhi's head as the Turkic royal court. Their cavalry would ride south every autumn to plunder, stealing our grain and abducting our women and children. In the early years of our Tang founding, the Supreme Emperor and His Majesty resorted to every possible measure—submission, peace negotiations, kowtowing, gift-giving—to deal with these wolf-like armies. There's no need to shy away from this truth. By the third year of Zhenguan, Li Yaoshi led six armies beyond the passes and in one strike destroyed Jieli Khan's headquarters, capturing their king and annihilating their state, avenging our shame and eliminating the northern threat to Great Tang."
He bent down and drew the edge of his hand across Yang Xinzhi's Adam's apple. The sturdy youth cooperatively let out a choking "Ack!" sound, sending the women into another round of giggles.
"At the height of the Turkic Khan's power, they allied with the Khitans and Goguryeo in the east," Li Yuangui said, kicking Yang Xinzhi's outstretched left arm, "while controlling various small states in the western deserts, and especially maintaining deep collusion with the Tuyuhun on the Qinghai Lake plateau. It's said Jieli Khan's birth mother was Tuyuhun."
He stepped back from Yang Xinzhi's head to below the right arm. Originally intending to step on the right arm while saying "This is Tuyuhun," he thought better of it and merely tapped the arm with his boot: "These are the four commanderies of Hexi, forming a corridor from Chang'an to the Western Regions. Fen Dui's hometown Dunhuang is right about where Yang Da's wrist would be."
With a pivot, Li Yuangui's lean frame settled into the crook of Yang Xinzhi's outstretched right armpit. Hugging his knees, he grinned:
"And I am Fu Yun, the old khan of Tuyuhun."
The room erupted in laughter again. Li Yuangui continued:
"Look at the territory these Tuyuhun occupy—the Qinghai plateau connects to our Longxi and Guanzhong in the east, borders the deserts and Khotan in the west, reaches Gaochang in the northern Western Regions, and controls our wealthy Shu region and Jiannan in the south. Their land produces the finest horses, but the high altitude and poor soil make farming difficult, so most of their people live as herders. Every autumn they form cavalry armies to raid Longdong for winter supplies—same logic as the Turkic autumn raids. But Tuyuhun is even closer to our Chang'an—"
He reached out and jabbed directly at Yang Xinzhi's chest."With the slightest carelessness, they could charge straight to Chang'an and threaten our capital. In fact, during the WuDe Era, several major Turkic invasions on the western front were coordinated with the Tuyuhun, even using Tuyuhun cavalry as their main force. In the sixth year of WuDe, Yingniang's father led troops into battle and repelled the enemy with a pipa dance duel—wasn't that precisely against the Tuyuhun?"
Chai Yingluo smiled and nodded in confirmation. Encouraged, Li Yuangui continued:
"The Tuyuhun pose too great a threat to the heartland of our Great Tang. Even if they lack the strength to charge straight to the capital, they control the Hexi Corridor to the north and border the lowlands of Shu to the south. They frequently send out detachments to harass here and cavalry units to plunder there, constantly keeping people on edge, leaving border residents in perpetual fear, and forcing us to maintain long-term military defenses..."
As he spoke, he reached out to tickle Yang Xinzhi's upper arms, armpits, and waist, making the tall, sturdy youth squirm and beg for mercy while the women in the room burst into giggles. Li Yuangui himself, however, grew serious again:
"Given the Tuyuhun's strategic terrain, which military strategists say grants them natural geographical advantage, if they maintained friendly relations with our Great Tang and engaged in peaceful trade, that would be one thing. But their current ruler, Khan Fu Yun, fancies himself a peerless hero. Seeing our Tang army annihilate the Turks, instead of being awed into submission, he sees it as his opportunity to rise in their place and command the nomadic tribes of the northwest. He wants to play the overlord right under the nose of our Heavenly Khan—how can we not fight this war!"
His impassioned argument rang with conviction. Feeling fully justified, Li Yuangui couldn't help glancing at Wei Shufen, only to find the young woman still frowning slightly, without the expected look of awed admiration.
"This humble girl is young and ignorant, but I've read that during Emperor Wu of Han's reign, in order to open routes to the western regions, over half the Han people perished..."
The eldest daughter of Chancellor Wei spoke slowly, but had only uttered a few words when hurried footsteps sounded outside. A servant rushed in frantically, tripped over the threshold, and cried out:
"Mas...Master! General Cheng has brought men into the temple!"
(Note: The "Sogdian script" Li Yuangui and the others discovered at the bottom of the Golden Pot—what did it look like? For images, please visit the author's Weibo. Search for ID "Tang Dynasty Tour Guide Forest Deer" on Sina Weibo. Welcome to discuss!)
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