Heading due north from Dunhuang city lay the Mao Gan Road — the route toward the kingdoms of Yiwu and Gaochang — stretching seven hundred li in its entirety. Along the way, there were only three relay outposts and garrison stations: the Tu Yao Zi Outpost, the Qingdun Outpost, and the Xianquan Outpost. The Xianquan Outpost also marked the Great Tang’s border — beyond it to the north was the territory of the Kingdom of Yiwu.
In the Wude ninth year, it was precisely here that the Tujue had broken through the Xianquan Outpost. The Prefect of Xisha Prefecture at the time, Du Yucai, had hurriedly dispatched the Zijin Garrison Commander Huang Xuzhang and Lv Sheng as the forward vanguard, attempting to block the Tujue forces north of the Qingdun Outpost. For the Qingdun Outpost held command over the southern mouth of Qingdun Gorge — once the Tujue broke through the gorge, the terrain to the south was a stretch of flat, open Gobi desert with no natural defenses. A mere hundred li, and they could penetrate into the heart of Dunhuang.
Xuanzang, Li Chan, and Yuzao departed Dunhuang and traveled thirty li before entering the great sandy waste of the Mao Gan Road. Wang Junke, knowing well the hardships of the route, had assigned the three of them four household guards and six pack horses loaded with provisions — dried rations, water, felt blankets, and other necessary supplies.
This stretch of desert was a death zone stretching seven hundred li. The dried-out beds of rivers that had long since died wound and curved like the desiccated corpses of great beasts, their remains preserved by the wind across the sands. Even the faint traces of shallower and deeper currents could still be distinguished upon those remains — yet all life was utterly gone from them. No birds flew overhead, no beasts walked below, no water or grass grew anywhere.
The people of Dunhuang called it the Ghost and Demon Waste — its full name: the Great Calamity Ghost and Demon Waste!
“Xuanzang has entered the Ghost and Demon Waste!”
Barely an hour after Xuanzang and the others had entered the Ghost and Demon Waste, a horseman rode at full gallop into the Linghu Township, fifteen li north of Dunhuang city.
All eight great clans maintained residences within Dunhuang city, but their clan members were largely scattered across the various counties and townships. Linghu Township, for instance, was home to a majority of people surnamed Linghu. Because it lay in frontier territory, most of the townships and villages had built fortified compounds — the rammed-earth walls were tall and thick, resembling small-scale walled towns. The common people lived within these compounds day to day, cultivating the hundreds of thousands of mu of fertile land outside the walls.
At this moment, outside the gates of the Linghu Township compound, a merchant caravan stood ready to set out. Seventy servants, all sturdy men between the ages of twenty and thirty, were in the midst of loading goods, grain, water, and other supplies onto tall-wheeled carts, pack horses, and camels. The caravan’s superintendent received the message brought by the horseman and immediately went into the compound, making his way to the ancestral residence of the Dunhuang Linghu clan on the northern side of the compound. Beside the ancestral residence stood the ancestral hall, where the spirit tablets of the Linghu clan’s forebears across the generations were enshrined.
In the main hall of the ancestral residence sat eight elders — the very patriarchs of the seven great clans from the closed academy council: Zhai Chang, Zhang Bi, Suo Yong, Fan Renjie, Yin Shixiong, and Song Chengtao. Yet sitting at the head position above Linghu Demao himself was Linghu Demao’s eldest brother — Linghu Demeng.
The Linghu clan of this generation had four brothers. The second brother, Linghu Deying, held official posts in other prefectures; the fourth brother, Linghu Defen, held office at court. The two who remained with the clan were the eldest brother Linghu Demeng and the third brother Linghu Demao. Though Linghu Demao presently served as the clan patriarch, he was the figure presented to the outside world. The true soul of the Linghu clan was this Linghu Demeng. He had always lived in secluded retirement and never appeared in public, yet from a distance he exerted control over the entire Linghu power structure. The other patriarchs were all well aware of how power was arranged within the Linghu clan and treated Linghu Demeng with the utmost respect.
In recent years Linghu Demeng had refused to see outsiders — no one knew where he had retired to. This time he had returned to the ancestral residence in Linghu Township specifically to preside over this great matter.
Linghu Demeng was saying with a composed smile, “I understand Elder Zhang’s meaning. Not wishing to marry Tiao Niang into the Wang family — that is a small matter, a private matter of the Zhang family. The rest of us need say nothing more about it. As for a mere Wang Junke — offending him is nothing to worry about.”
“Many thanks for your understanding, Elder Demeng.”
Zhang Bi clasped his hands in gratitude.
“The greatest threat facing our Dunhuang aristocratic clans at this moment is not any figure like Wang Junke — it is the Kui Wood Wolf entrenched at the Jade Gate Pass.”
Linghu Demeng said. “Wang Junke is nothing more than a posturing fool, casting himself into the fire to snatch the chestnut. But the Kui Wood Wolf — it is the one who can truly sever the roots of our clans. This adversary is even more formidable than Lv Sheng in those years.”
No one had expected Linghu Demeng to invoke that name. After a stunned moment, the gathered patriarchs permitted themselves to recall that name — one that had cut into their very bones — and could not help but give an involuntary shudder.
“Were it not for Elder Demeng’s mention, this old man would have been content never to think of that person again for the rest of his days.”
Zhang Bi said with a rueful smile.
Yin Shixiong, patriarch of the Yin clan, said in a loud voice, “In all these seven hundred years, has there ever been a generation without someone who dared to challenge the aristocratic clans? Even a figure as terrifying as Lv Sheng ended in ruin and disgrace. What manner of thing is the Kui Wood Wolf? If we are united and of one mind, what difficulty is there in destroying it?”
Linghu Demeng said in approval, “Well said, Elder Yin. As long as all are united to destroy the Kui Wood Wolf, this old man has no further words on the matter. All else is a secondary concern — even if matters call for each family to bear some slight diminishment of their interests, that is something to be endured and passed through.”
“Elder Brother,”
Linghu Demao said, “regarding Xuanzang’s intention to go to the Qingdun Outpost — yesterday I passed the word to the Jade Gate Pass side through the merchant caravan. I expect the Kui Wood Wolf, on learning of this, will certainly go to the Qingdun Outpost to make trouble for Xuanzang. The six patriarchs and I have prepared men for the occasion — ten from each family, all the most elite household guards, dressed as members of a merchant caravan and hidden in ambush at the Qingdun Outpost. This will certainly ensure the Kui Wood Wolf has no way to retreat.”
“However, there is one concern.”
Zhai Chang said thoughtfully. “The weapons our household guards are carrying are private arms — straight blades, bows and arrows, that sort of thing. The weapons with greater destructive force — armor, crossbows, spears and halberds — are prohibited military arms, forbidden by statute from private possession. But without those weapons, dealing with the Kui Wood Wolf will likely not be easy.”
Linghu Demeng shook his head. “Elder Zhai — statutes are statutes. Our Dunhuang aristocratic clans have great families and great estates. We must be especially cautious and prudent in all that we do. The Kui Wood Wolf can be hunted down gradually. The court must be respected at every moment.”
“I was too hasty in my thinking.”
Zhai Chang clasped his hands in acknowledgment.
“Your heart is urgent — all our hearts are urgent!”
Linghu Demeng sighed. “I am already past my seventieth year. My own body reeks of the smell of decay and decline. Yet while the Kui Wood Wolf remains undestryed, I dare not speak of death.”
Linghu Demao’s eyes reddened. He said in a low voice, “Elder Brother — I have been useless, and caused you to toil and labor so.”
Zhang Bi said, “But Elder Demeng — what Elder Zhai is concerned about also has some merit. Even if the Kui Wood Wolf truly does go to the Qingdun Outpost to make trouble for Xuanzang, seventy of our men cannot subdue it. Just a few days ago at the Mogao Caves, three hundred garrison troops from the young lord’s forces could not contain it.”
Yin Shixiong said with a laugh, “The Kui Wood Wolf is a divine spirit descended to the mortal realm, turned into a demonic creature. Naturally ordinary human means cannot subdue it. If we are truly relying on human force — never mind our seventy men, four hundred might still be hard-pressed to be a match for it.”
“Oh?”
Zhang Bi was surprised. “Then why are we still gathering these household guards from each family?”
Linghu Demeng said with a smile, “Simply to demonstrate each family’s resolve to advance and retreat together. The true one who will slay the Kui Wood Wolf is someone else entirely. This time, thanks to Elder Shixiong’s good offices, we have invited a person of great ability from Chang’an. Demao — go and invite Academician Li!”
The others were apparently unaware of this, and all looked toward Yin Shixiong. Yin Shixiong stroked his beard with self-satisfaction and smiled mysteriously.
Linghu Demao was not gone long before he returned, quietly leading ten men draped in black cloaks into the main hall. The leading figure was an elegant young man of about twenty-five or twenty-six years of age. The other nine were clearly attendants — they stood behind him without a single word, as silent and still as stone sculptures.
“Academician Li…”
Zhai Chang said in surprise. “Which guild’s academician is this?”
Yin Shixiong hesitated for a moment. “This academician is not from any guild. His identity has a separate secret that is inconvenient to disclose. Elder Zhai need only know that Academician Li possesses great supernatural ability and can slay the Kui Wood Wolf.”
Academician Li smiled. “Since I have come, there is no need to conceal my identity. I merely ask that the family patriarchs present not spread word of it.”
The expressions of the patriarchs grew solemn. Yin Shixiong still looked somewhat hesitant.
Academician Li said with a smile, “My family name is Li, given name Chunfeng. I am the Exorcism Academician of the Exorcism Division of the Court of Imperial Physicians in Chang’an. These are my colleagues of the Exorcism Division — one Exorcism Master, four Exorcism Craftsmen, and four Exorcism Apprentices.”
Zhai Chang and the others drew a sharp breath. “The Exorcism Division of the Court of Imperial Physicians? Elder Yin — did you make use of the imperial consort’s connections?”
“Indeed.”
Yin Shixiong nodded. “The Kui Wood Wolf is a divine spirit from the heavens that has descended and become a demonic creature. The foremost person in our Great Tang today capable of subduing demons is the Venerable Master Yuan Tiangang. However, the Master is advanced in years, and at ordinary times he wanders the world — it is very difficult to invite him. Yet the Exorcism Division of the Court of Imperial Physicians was personally founded by the Venerable Master Yuan Tiangang, and this Academician Li Chunfeng is the master’s most prized disciple.”
The assembled patriarchs wore expressions that were difficult to read — it was unclear whether they were pleased or troubled.
The Exorcism Division had been established since the Sui dynasty, operating under the Court of Imperial Physicians and serving the imperial house exclusively. It removed malicious spirits and demonic presences through the arts of exorcism and incantation, thereby treating illness and disease. It was staffed by one Exorcism Academician, two Exorcism Masters, eight Exorcism Craftsmen, and ten Exorcism Apprentices.
The establishment of the Exorcism Division was in fact the result of a proposal from the renowned physician Sun Simiao. Sun Simiao had held that medicinal decoctions, acupuncture, exorcism incantations, talismans and seals, and guiding-and-directing exercises constituted the five methods of medical treatment. Sun Simiao had personally compiled the Exorcism Canon in Twenty-Two Chapters as a teaching text, instructing students in the arts of exorcism and incantation for the expulsion of malicious spirits and demonic presences. These twenty-two chapters drew broadly from diverse sources — there were Daoist exorcisms, employing Daoist ritual methods, and there were incantation exorcisms, employing Buddhist ritual methods.
During the Wude years the Emperor had reestablished the Exorcism Division. Yuan Tiangang had briefly presided over it for several years, transmitting the full Exorcism Canon in Twenty-Two Chapters and training several disciples before departing, going where the wind took him. This Academician Li Chunfeng had originally been a Daoist priest at the Louvain Terrace on Zhongnan Mountain — a direct-transmission disciple of Yuan Tiangang. In the sixth month of this year, Li Shimin had specifically invited Li Chunfeng from Zhongnan Mountain to take charge of the Exorcism Division. The title of Exorcism Academician carried the civil rank of Promoting Service Gentleman — the very lowest of positions at the lowest tier of the ninth rank. Li Chunfeng appeared not the least bit bothered by this.
The Exorcism Division served the imperial house exclusively and was not known to the outside world. However, those present were all aristocratic clan patriarchs and were naturally aware of this institution. A single division capable of suppressing the malicious spirits of the imperial palace — Academician Li’s official rank was low, but he was clearly a figure of great and formidable ability. Using him to destroy the Kui Wood Wolf was beyond question. And yet — the Exorcism Division touched upon the imperial house. Did the matter of the enmity between the Dunhuang aristocratic clans and the Kui Wood Wolf somehow already lie within the imperial house’s knowledge?
The moment this thought arose, every patriarch present felt a chill run through them.
Yin Shixiong sensed the unease among the patriarchs and explained in a low voice, “Two months ago I wrote to Hongzhi, who went into the palace to persuade the imperial consort. The consort privately issued an informal decree, inviting Academician Li to come to Dunhuang.”
Only then did the patriarchs relax somewhat.
Li Chunfeng said with a smile, “I have come to Dunhuang in accordance with the imperial consort’s informal decree to expel malicious spirits for Elder Lady Yin. As for the Kui Wood Wolf — that is simply some additional private work on the side. The Exorcism Craftsmen and Exorcism Apprentices I have brought with me have only just passed the examination and entered the division this year, and have not yet studied for long. A divine spirit descending to the mortal realm is a once-in-a-hundred-years occurrence — I bring them along to witness this celestial spirit for themselves.”
Linghu Demeng said with a smile, “This Kui Wood Wolf is indeed a rare sight. These years it has run rampant through Dunhuang, its supernatural powers strange and unpredictable. The Yin clan and the Suo clan have long been known for their arts of divination and arcane technique, and yet they have repeatedly come out on the losing end against it. Academician Li will surely have his eyes well and truly opened this time.”
At this very moment, the merchant caravan’s superintendent walked softly into the main hall, hands clasped respectfully at his sides. “This humble servant reports to the clan patriarch — news has just arrived that Xuanzang has entered the Ghost and Demon Waste.”
Everyone’s spirits rose at once. The room fell absolutely silent.
Linghu Demeng clapped his hands. “Come in!”
Linghu Zhan and Suo Yi walked in from behind the hall in silence and bowed in greeting. Suo Yi’s hands were bound in wooden shackles. His expression was dejected.
“Suo Yi,”
Suo Yong said, staring at him with distaste. “You betrayed the clan. By clan rules, you should be put to death. However, in consideration of the service you have rendered, you shall accompany Academician Li on the hunt for the Kui Wood Wolf. There is no need for you to return this time, and no need to be interred in the ancestral graves. Should you render distinguished service, your children and descendants will still remain in the clan genealogy.”
Suo Yi said nothing. He calmly raised his arms. Linghu Zhan took out a key and unlocked the shackles.
Linghu Demeng said in a gentle tone, “Zhan’er — since you are now without a post and at home, go ahead and lead the group this time. Let all the old grievances and enmities be settled by you.”
“I thank you, Uncle.”
Linghu Zhan turned and looked at Linghu Demao. “Father — if I fail and meet my death, there is no need to collect my remains. There is no need to inter me in the ancestral graves!”
Out in the Ghost and Demon Waste, Xuanzang, Li Chan, and Yuzao and the others pressed forward at a swift pace. The first day went well enough. By nightfall they reached the Tu Yao Zi relay station. Li Chan presented the prefectural office’s document, and they spent the night lodged in the relay station.
There were also a number of foreign merchant caravans at the relay station, making their way along the Mao Gan Road — most had come from the direction of the Kingdom of Yiwu. With Dunhuang now in sight, the merchants were all in high spirits and drank through the night in celebration.
Xuanzang and the others had traveled eighty li and were exhausted, person and horse alike. They sank into a heavy sleep and did not wake until dawn. The second day they continued northward.
Pressing further north now meant going deeper into the Ghost and Demon Waste. The terrifying aspect of this road was the complete absence of any water source in the middle stretch. In truth, the only places where water could be found were these three garrison stations — and this was precisely the purpose for which the court had established these beacon-fire outposts. In the desert, whoever controlled the water sources controlled the lifelines of the surrounding hundred li.
Traveling in the waste was extremely difficult. Sometimes what appeared to be solid, hard desert ground, the moment a horse’s hoof came down upon it, would crack through the thin crust of soil on the surface and sink into the sand beneath. If the horse moved too quickly, there was a very real risk of a broken leg. Xuanzang and the others dared not ride at the swift pace of the previous day and pressed forward only at a slow and careful walk.
That night they camped in the open under the sky on the sandy waste. The household guards gathered some dried camel thorn and red willow branches from among the sand, dug into the desert floor, set up an iron pot, and boiled lamb broth. They soaked the dry, hard oil-sesame flatbread until it was soft, and this was their meal. Xuanzang did not eat the lamb broth — he took only hot water and soaked his flatbread in it. Then everyone huddled around the campfire, wrapped in felt blankets, lying directly on the desert ground.
The starlight in the desert waste was piercingly bright. The blue-black vault of heaven enclosed the earth below. In the windless season, a silence like death — only the ancient, watching stars reflecting upon one’s own body, as they contemplated with quiet detachment the smallness and brevity of life.
That night, Yuzao murmured softly in her sleep. No one could make out what she said.
That night, Li Chan lay tilted on his side near Yuzao, watching the flickering light of the dying campfire play across her beautiful face. He let his mind wander through the boundless expanse of the universe — primal and enduring, as it had ever been — and drifted off to sleep at last with a gentle smile on his lips.
When they woke the next morning, the night winds had buried the group halfway in sand. The people dug themselves out from the dust, shook the grit from their bodies, took hold of their horses, and pressed on.
On the third day they traveled another fifty li. Finally, at dusk, they reached the Qingdun Outpost.
The Qingdun Outpost held command over the southern mouth of Qingdun Gorge — the gorge formed at the confluence of the Lukdag Mountains and the Mazong Mountains. At this place, the mountain terrain gradually leveled. Looking far into the distance from any height, everything within a radius of ten li or more was visible.
A stream of water ran down from the slopes of the Mazong Mountains and disappeared into the distant desert sands. The Qingdun Outpost was built on the bank of this stream — a square earthen compound constructed from rammed earth layered with red willow and reed. It backed against a sheer cliff, its gate facing the mouth of the gorge. The compound walls rose two zhang in height and were extremely thick. There were corner towers at all four angles, with two projecting horse-face platforms at the front of the gate, along with an outer enclosure wall, forming a barbican. Anyone wishing to enter the compound had to first pass beneath the horse-face platforms and into the barbican before gaining entry. Behind and above the garrison station stood a beacon tower on a commanding height, keeping watch over a radius of ten li or more. In the event of an alarm, smoke would be lit during the day and fire during the night. The whole structure was a three-dimensional defensive fortress.
When Xuanzang and the others arrived before the Qingdun Outpost, they found two foreign merchant caravans stopped beside the spring water nearby. The merchants had drawn their tall-wheeled carts into a circle and were encamped in the open, with servants in the midst of unloading goods from pack horses and camels, setting up tents, and preparing meals over fires — all in a state of busy activity.
Garrison soldiers patrolled along the top of the outpost’s walls. These merchant travelers had had their transit documents checked, and though the garrison station would not let them inside, it would provide necessary supplies and protection — which was what the merchants truly valued. In desert country, bandits and outlaws appeared frequently. By keeping close to a garrison station, there was no need to be on constant alert.
Li Chan presented the prefectural office’s document to the relay station director surnamed Sun. Director Sun was startled — this was a document issued by Wang Junke personally, bearing the prefect’s own seal. He hastily invited them inside the station to bathe and rest, ordered the relay soldiers to take their horses to be brushed and cared for, and went himself to summon the garrison commander, Lin Sima.
The relay station was quite extensive, with garrison soldiers’ barracks, a stable, storerooms, an armory, and all other necessary facilities spread throughout. The court divided beacon-fire garrison stations into three grades: fifty men constituted an upper-grade station, thirty men a middle-grade station, and fewer than thirty men a lower-grade station. The Qingdun Outpost commanded the national border and was an upper-grade station with fifty garrison soldiers. The garrison commander, Lin Sima, held the rank of Deputy Lieutenant at the lower tier of the eighth rank. Though posted at the remote border, in Xisha Prefecture he held a position of considerable distinction — one need only note that the Recording Secretary, fourth in rank at the prefectural offices, held no higher a rank than the lower tier of the eighth rank.
Lin Sima was around forty years of age, with rugged features and a powerfully built, commanding frame. On the wall of the dimly lit room hung a painted image of Maitreya Buddha. An incense burner stood before the image, and Lin Sima was kneeling on a meditation cushion, holding three sticks of incense with reverence, chanting sutras.
“Commander.”
Director Sun called from outside the door. “A document has arrived from the prefecture.”
Lin Sima paid no attention. He finished his recitation, placed the incense reverently in the burner, bowed three times, and only then opened his door.
Lin Sima glanced at the document in Director Sun’s hand but did not take it. “My character recognition is almost up to a hundred now, but read it aloud to me all the same.”
“Very well.”
Director Sun said with a smile. “In truth there is nothing of great consequence in it — only that the Prefect himself issued this document, bearing the prefect’s official seal. The document states: ‘Mindful that the garrison soldiers of the outpost stations have long endured the harsh cold of the frontier, far from home with loved ones thinking of them from afar — this day, Venerable Monk Xuanzang, master of Buddhist teaching, has been specially invited to come to the garrison station and lecture on the Dharma for the frontier soldiers and pray for the blessings of their parents, wives, and children. Furthermore, all reasonable requests the Venerable Monk may make shall not be refused.'” Lin Sima’s face went rigid. He remained stiffly dazed for a long while before reaching out with trembling hands to take the document, murmuring, “These great figures — reading books really does give them nine bends in their intestines. Clearly they’ve come to kill someone, yet they say they’re here to lecture on the Dharma.”
“What?”
Director Sun was dumbfounded. “Kill someone? Kill whom?”
Lin Sima sighed without spirit. “Whoever can be killed by the Dharma is naturally the kind of person who ekes out a precarious existence in the cracks — someone who amounts to less than an ant.”
Director Sun accompanied Lin Sima to the courtyard of the relay station.
In the courtyard stood an ancient poplar tree. Perhaps out of concern that the crown growing too tall would obstruct the line of sight, the top of the trunk had been sawed off. The crown grew in all directions, immense and sprawling, shading more than half the courtyard. Beneath the tree was a well. A monk had just drawn up a bucket of water and was using it to wash his face. The monk’s robe was half-wet, and water droplets glistened on his shaved head. The monk was tall and broad of frame, with strong, solid bones — clearly not the kind of person who knew only how to ring bells and chant sutras.
Director Sun introduced Xuanzang to Lin Sima. Xuanzang said with a smile, “Commander Lin, the well water here is sweet and refreshing — completely without the bitter, brackish taste found elsewhere. Truly a rare thing.”
Lin Sima said with a smile, “This well does not draw from the underground water of the sandy waste — it draws from sweet spring water that seeps down from the mountains nearby into the ground. In the four years I have been stationed here, what I love most is this well.”
Xuanzang sat down on the steps of the well platform and scooped up water to drink with a ladle. “The frontier is harsh and cold. I’ve heard that at the Qingdun Outpost, snow falls as early as the ninth month, blocking the gorge roads and cutting off merchant traffic.”
“Sometimes snow falls in the eighth month too.”
Lin Sima said. “The horn bows grow stiff and cold — hard to draw. The iron armor is like ice. The water in this well freezes so hard it cannot be chipped open.”
Xuanzang looked at him with a calm smile. “According to the court’s rotation of duty assignments, each rotation is one year. You have been stationed here for three years, Commander. Why have you not been transferred elsewhere?”
Lin Sima gave a rueful smile. “Who in their right mind would want to come to a place like the Qingdun Outpost? If I could have gotten to the prefectural seat, I would have left long ago—”
“That’s not necessarily true!”
Suddenly a voice rang out clearly.
Xuanzang turned. He saw that Li Chan had finished washing up and was walking over, accompanying Yuzao.
“Master may not yet know — this Qingdun Outpost is an exceptionally lucrative post. After three years as garrison commander, Commander Lin must have accumulated no small sum — not less than ten thousand strings of cash and silk, I would wager.”
Li Chan sized up Lin Sima with a contemptuous smile.
Lin Sima’s expression darkened. “Who are you to slander me like that?”
“Who I am is clearly written in the document.”
Li Chan said with a cold laugh. “As for whether this is slander — shall I spell it out in detail?”
Lin Sima said nothing. He stared at Li Chan with a grim expression, one hand slowly closing around the hilt of his blade.
Yuzao glanced at him, but paid it no mind, and frowned at Li Chan. “You’re not just making things up, are you? How could this desolate place be worth ten thousand strings?”
“Ten thousand strings is actually on the conservative side.”
Li Chan stared at Lin Sima. “Master, Young Lady — you may not be aware. On this trade route from Dunhuang and Guazhou to the Western Regions, what the foreign merchants call the Silk Road — in actual fact, silk is a commodity forbidden from being transported across the border. Tang law stipulates: ‘Brocades, damask silk, gauze silk, plain silk, floss silk, raw silk, cloth, yak tails, pearls, gold, silver, and iron are not to be taken across the western or northern borders, nor traded and sold in the border prefecture territories.'”
Xuanzang was taken aback. “Silk cannot be transported across the border? Why is that?”
Li Chan knew well that this master of his, though keenly perceptive of the subtlest details, had absolutely no understanding of commerce and trade. He replied, “Gold and silver go without saying — the Great Tang has a shortage of gold and silver within its borders and cannot allow them to flow out. Iron implements are military supplies — shipping them across the border is the same as supplying the enemy. As for silks and damasks — Master, these are money. Ordinary people pay their grain and cloth taxes in silk and hemp; horses are purchased with bolts of plain silk; laborers are paid their wages in silk cloth. Silk functions as currency.”
“Ah, I understand — so in effect the concern is that currency and wealth will flow out in great quantities.”
Xuanzang said with sudden clarity. “I have heard that a bolt of fine brocade can fetch ten times its value in Samarkand. Yet on the Silk Road one commonly sees foreign merchants driving cart after cart of silk cloth for trade to Gaochang, Yanqi, Samarkand, and even to the Tujue and the Tuyuhun. How does that come about?”
“Because they are national envoys, conducting the silk-for-horse exchange trade on behalf of their respective kingdoms with the Great Tang.”
Li Chan said with a smile. “If one is a private merchant, one can only trade in ceramics, lacquerware, tea, and similar goods. And so, there lies the crux of the matter.”
Li Chan fixed his gaze on Lin Sima. “Every foreign merchant knows the enormous profit in silk cloth — who would not want to hide away a few cart-loads of silk and smuggle them across the border? The Qingdun Outpost commands the national border. Every foreign merchant traveling the Mao Gan Road must have their transit documents inspected and their goods checked at the Qingdun Outpost. Commander Lin sits astride a golden road — would not raking in a few thousand strings a year be effortless?”
“You are talking nonsense!”
Lin Sima, alarmed and furious, drew his straight blade and bellowed. “I am a frontier officer of the Great Tang — how could I do such a thing! If you have no proof, I will have you taken to the authorities right now!”
Li Chan rolled his eyes. “Did I say you were privately permitting the passage of prohibited goods?”
“You just said—”
Lin Sima gritted his teeth.
“I was not finished yet.”
Li Chan said with a cold laugh. “Tang law stipulates: any person who dares to conceal goods and smuggle them through a border crossing — if caught and reported, the goods are divided three ways: two-thirds goes as a reward to the person who reported and captured them, one-third goes to the authorities. Each year, from confiscating smuggling foreign merchants within your jurisdiction, the rewards you received could not amount to less than a few thousand strings of cash — could they?”
Lin Sima’s jaw worked but no words came. The string of tension in his chest suddenly snapped loose, and he slowly released his grip on the blade. But then all at once he caught himself — he looked up to find Xuanzang and Yuzao watching him with a measuring, thoughtful expression.
His own over-reaction had just betrayed the fear hidden in his heart.
“And so,”
Yuzao said slowly, “three years as garrison commander of the Qingdun Outpost — not a punishment to a harsh and desolate posting, but a reward for killing Lv Sheng that year.”
“Slander! Nothing but slander!”
Lin Sima let out a hoarse shout. The great frame of the man was trembling uncontrollably.
“When did the twelfth young lady ever slander anyone?”
Li Chan said with a smile. “That year when you beheaded Lv Sheng, the court tallied the merit and elevated you from an ordinary squad leader to the lower tier of the eighth rank to serve as deputy garrison commander of the Qingdun Outpost — was that not a reward?”
Lin Sima stared at them blankly, at a loss for words. Sparring with these two, his state of mind lurching up and down — the iron heart forged on the battlefield had been completely routed.
“Venerable Monk — you came to the Qingdun Outpost just to make sport of me?”
Lin Sima turned to Xuanzang with a complaint. “The prefectural office document said you came to lecture on the Dharma.”
“This humble monk naturally came to lecture on the Dharma — which is precisely why I needed to see who among those present was in need of this monk’s prayers for blessing.”
Xuanzang said with a smile. “Commander Lin — why not accompany this humble monk in a walk to look around?”
Lin Sima could do nothing about it and accompanied Xuanzang on a circuit of the garrison station. Then the two of them ascended the city wall and walked along the broad rammed-earth surface of the battlements.
Yuzao said quietly to Li Chan, “That fellow — you actually surprised me today. How did you come to know about Lin Sima’s corruption?”
“The Prefect told me.”
Li Chan said matter-of-factly.
Yuzao’s eyes went wide, filled with suspicion. But Li Chan only smiled pleasantly and offered no further explanation. Yuzao gave a “hmph” and followed along after Xuanzang and Lin Sima, ascending the wall.
The desert sunset — like a rolling mass of scorching flame, burning through the entire expanse of the desert. Far to the south, another caravan had appeared, winding forward like a thread. Tall-wheeled carts, travelers, pack horses and camels, silhouetted in the dunes, plodded their way through the yellow sand. The shimmering air above the ground’s surface quivered and danced, stretching those silhouettes long, then contracting them short again.
Looking north, two mountain peaks rose in layer upon layer of ridges, already deepened to a blue-green shade.
Xuanzang’s eyes rested on the desert. His hands pressed against the city wall. It seemed he could feel through them a trace of the breath that Lv Sheng had once left in this place — as though his spirit had not traveled far and still lingered in the desert. A rebel and criminal whom country and court could not accommodate, whom heaven and earth would not receive — where else, besides this place, could he have gone?
Xuanzang’s eyes grew somewhat moist. “Commander Lin — why not tell this humble monk the story of how you killed Lv Sheng all those years ago?”
Lin Sima’s expression was blank. “That was the Wude ninth year, sixth month. I was serving as a squad leader at this Qingdun Outpost at the time. On the ninth day, in the early hours of the morning before dawn, a clamor suddenly broke out inside the garrison station. Only then did I discover that on the beacon tower north of the gorge, four beacon fires had been lit.”
Lin Sima gazed in the direction of Qingdun Gorge. His body suddenly began to tremble. “The Venerable Monk may not be familiar with this — according to the Ministry of War’s beacon-fire regulations, when enemy invaders have entered the territory: for fifty or more cavalry but fewer than five hundred, one beacon fire is lit; for five hundred or more but fewer than three thousand, two fires are lit; for three thousand cavalry or more, three fires; if ten thousand or more, or if one thousand or more but the exact number is unknown, four fires are lit. Four beacon fires — even the whole of Hexi, even the capital, would be shaken into mobilization for a major campaign. The garrison commander immediately ordered us at the Qingdun Outpost to light our own beacon fires as well, then personally led men northward into Qingdun Gorge to scout the military situation. Everyone was thinking that the northernmost Xianquan Outpost had probably already fallen — yet the Qingdun Outpost and the Xianquan Outpost were separated by a hundred and thirty-five li, with four additional beacon towers in between. We would be fortunate to bring back whatever brothers we could from those towers. And indeed — when we reached the second beacon tower, we found our comrades who had scattered and retreated from the Xianquan Outpost side. They told us that Tujue forces were advancing in a large-scale southward invasion along the Mao Gan Road, and that the brothers at the outposts further north had all died in battle to the last man. We brought those men back to safety, dispatched riders to send word to Dunhuang city, and then held the Qingdun Outpost and waited for death.”
“If enemy forces were invading in such numbers, why not retreat?”
Xuanzang asked. “After all, with several thousand enemy troops against your fifty, there was nothing to be gained by staying.”
“What a garrison soldier must do is light the beacon fires.”
Lin Sima said. “No matter how many enemy troops — whether a hundred or ten thousand — we must hold the beacon tower to the death and fight until we fall. Only when the enemy withdraws do we light one fire as a signal of safety. That is the fate of a beacon-fire garrison soldier. And so the sons of wealthy and powerful households, when called up for military service, would hear that they were to go up to the beacon station and immediately pay a poor family’s son to take their place. Fifteen days of beacon duty, for ten coins.”
Lin Sima’s expression was bitter. “I was fourteen years old when I took someone’s place at a beacon station. Four months — and I earned eighty coins. With that, I bought two doses of medicine for my elder brother, who was gravely ill. My brother ultimately did not survive that winter. We all knew he would not — yet I wished to spend those coins from beacon duty on medicine for him. I wanted to tell him: I am grown now, I can earn money. Father, Mother, sister-in-law, and nephew — leave them to me. My brother must have understood. He died very peacefully in the end.”
Lin Sima murmured through these memories of a poor family’s joys and sorrows, his hands stroking the city wall as though stroking the whole of his life.
Xuanzang pressed his palms together in the empty gesture of prayer and was silent for a long time. “And afterwards?”
“That time we were fortunate. We endured for a day and a night, and then the forward vanguard under Garrison Commander Huang Xuzhang arrived.”
Lin Sima looked at Xuanzang. “That was the first time I saw Lv Sheng. He was the monitoring officer of the vanguard — a great personage that I, a small squad leader, had to crane my neck just to dare steal a glance at. At that time I could never have imagined that, barely a single day later, he would die by my hand.”
A ringing zheng — the flash of blade-light — and Yuzao suddenly drew her blade and hacked it hard into the battlements. Dust and grit exploded around it. Lin Sima’s hand instantly snapped to his own weapon, but he saw that Yuzao had not turned around. She only stood there in a daze, staring down below the wall, her shoulders heaving in silent, convulsive shuddering.
Xuanzang let out a sigh.
Lin Sima slowly relaxed and returned the blade to its sheath. “After Zijin Garrison deployed its defenses, a military council was called. The greatest difficulty at the time was that the Tujue’s position was unknown — their numbers and objectives were not clear. Commander Huang had no choice but to fall back on the most straightforward method: hold the Qingdun Outpost and wait to fight a battle that would give some sense of the enemy’s strength. That night I was on watch duty here on the city wall, standing in approximately this very spot—”
Lin Sima pointed to a place a few chi ahead of where Xuanzang stood. “I turned my head suddenly — and discovered that three lanterns had been hung on the beacon tower!”
Lin Sima turned and looked toward the beacon tower rising tall behind the station. Everyone else looked toward it too. At the top was a flagpole, a red banner hanging from it, an eagle embroidered upon the cloth, billowing in the wind.
“Hung with lanterns? What did that mean?”
Xuanzang asked.
“I don’t know.”
Lin Sima seemed to sink back into the eerie and dangerous atmosphere of that night. His expression was one of fear and alarm. “Lanterns had never been hung on that flagpole before. Night had already fallen — at the crossing of the hour of Xu and the hour of Hai. The ninth day: a moon was out, with wind, and sand was blowing, making the desert indistinct and obscured. I grew watchful at that moment and kept my position at the horse-face platform on the wall.”
Lin Sima moved to the horse-face platform on the north side of the gate.
The horse-face was a narrow elongated projecting platform jutting outward from the city wall, allowing the defenders stationed there to join with those on the wall in a three-sided attack against enemies below the wall. Everyone followed Lin Sima onto the horse-face platform. Lin Sima pointed toward the barbican enclosure. “After a short while, the gate opened. I saw Lv Sheng emerge from the barbican with two soldiers, carrying a lantern, and walk out into the desert.”
Everyone’s faces grew taut. It seemed they had all come under the spell of that night’s atmosphere. Even Yuzao said nothing, gazing out across the distant desert and listening quietly to Lin Sima’s account.
In those days, the squad leader Lin Sima had nine garrison soldiers under his command. Discovering that Lv Sheng had gone out, he dared not raise an alarm. He called together the brothers of his squad to confer — yet Lv Sheng was the monitoring officer; even the principal commander Huang Xüzhang was subject to his authority. What could a small squad leader possibly say? Lin Sima therefore kept his post on the city wall and kept a close watch on the direction of the sandy waste. It was not until an hour later that, from deep in the waste, the faint glow of a lantern gradually became visible, floating toward them. When it drew nearer, Lin Sima could see that the one holding the lantern was indeed Lv Sheng — but behind him trailed more than ten foreign merchants, every one of them looking thoroughly wretched and bedraggled, their goods long since abandoned, bringing only the mules and horses they had with them.
Lin Sima dared not open the gate. He reported to Huang Xuzhang, who personally came out of the relay station to receive Lv Sheng and the others, whereupon they immediately entered the main hall for a military council. Only then did Lin Sima learn the truth: this merchant group had originally been making its way along the Mao Gan Road toward Dunhuang when the great Tujue invasion blocked their path, trapping them in Qingdun Gorge.
The merchant caravan had their goods plundered by the Tujue and lost not a few of their number before the remaining thirty-some people fled into the Mazong Mountains. Crossing mountains and ridges, they had finally managed to reach the mouth of the gorge. They sent someone to the Qingdun Outpost and found Lv Sheng, who then ventured into the desert in the dead of night to bring them to safety.
With the foreign merchants arrived, the situation became clear. It turned out that the Tujue’s Yugushad had fallen into conflict with his elder brother, the Great Khagan Xieli. For reasons unknown, he had suddenly seized the Kingdom of Yiwu and was leading three thousand cavalry in a southward invasion along the Mao Gan Road. His forces were currently encamped in Qingdun Gorge, holding their position without advancing.
As she listened to Lin Sima’s account, Yuzao had been keeping her heart on edge. Now she let out a breath of relief. “Lv郎 truly did not betray his country!”
Lin Sima gave a cold laugh. “Young Lady — if he had not betrayed his country, would I still be standing here today?”
“Keep talking!”
Yuzao was furious. “Give me one reason not to kill you!”
Lin Sima gave her a contemptuous look but did not argue. He continued his account.
That night, Huang Xuzhang and Lv Sheng and the others adjusted their deployment, planning to launch a surprise assault before dawn the following morning on Yugushad’s encampment in the gorge and delay his southward advance as long as possible. After the military council ended, the exhausted men all went to sleep. Lin Sima lay on the city wall in his clothes, fully armed, ready at a moment’s notice.
But unexpectedly, at the hour of Yin, a series of screams suddenly rang out inside the garrison station. Lin Sima sat bolt upright in alarm. Only then did he realize that the group of foreign merchants had seized weapons and were cutting down guards and charging toward the gate. Lin Sima led his nine fellow soldiers in an attempt to descend and provide support, but they were blocked and intercepted at the ramp leading down.
In the end, that group of foreign merchants broke open the city gate.
And at that very moment, the three lanterns hanging on the flagpole were extinguished simultaneously!
The moment the lanterns went dark, the deep reaches of the sandy waste suddenly erupted with the sound of horns. Immediately after, heavy hoofbeats began drumming through the desert. Countless Tujue cavalry surged out of the gorge. The Tujue forces and their inner agents coordinated perfectly — the very moment the city gate was seized, the cavalry were already pressing forward in a great wave.
By the time Huang Xuzhang and Lv Sheng had rallied their forces, matters were already beyond saving.
Like a tide, the Tujue cavalry poured into the garrison station. The two sides — some two thousand men in total — launched into a brutal close-quarters battle within the narrow confines of the garrison station. The Great Tang garrison troops and frontier soldiers were ferociously brave. A mere five-hundred-some men, with their bodies of flesh and blood, withstood the slaughter of more than fifteen hundred cavalry. In the courtyard, on the city walls, in the main hall, in the relay lodgings, in the stables, in the granary — at every point of battle, not a single man surrendered. They fought to the last soldier, the last man.
“Commander Huang led us in fighting through an entire night. He tried to retake the city gate. The bodies in the courtyard piled up to half a man’s height. I gripped my straight blade and traded thrusts and stabs with the Tujue across a wall of corpses. By dawn of the second day, the Tujue had seized the city wall. We collapsed in total rout.”
Lin Sima drew his blade. The blade’s edge reflected his eyes — and reflected too the brutality and bloodshed of that night. “The Tujue, occupying the city wall, rained down arrows from above. I watched Commander Huang take more than ten arrows to his body. He leaned back against a heap of corpses and would not fall. My garrison deputy held the beacon tower to the last, defending the staircase. The Tujue tried to fight their way up and extinguish the beacon fire — he defended the steps alone, and in the end both legs were cut off from under him and he toppled into the fire platform.”
Xuanzang was a monk. These years of practice had cultivated in him a state of settled composure — the equanimity of an ancient well undisturbed, the free contemplation of the Dharma. Yet as he listened to Lin Sima’s account, his mind sinking into that blood-soaked night of the Wude ninth year, he still felt his scalp tighten and his spirit tremble.
“Nonsense — all nonsense!”
Yuzao shouted through her tears. “That group of inner agents posing as foreign merchants could not possibly have been brought in by Lv Sheng! Every witness from that night died — of course you can say whatever you like!”
Lin Sima gave a cold laugh. “My apologies, Young Lady — the witnesses from that night did not all die. The garrison commander, seeing there was nothing more to be done, led some twenty or thirty of us in scaling down the city wall with ropes. Lv Sheng at that point was on the city wall directing the battle and came down the ropes along with us. We killed the Tujue outside the walls, seized horses, and escaped the sandy waste. The Tujue split off forces to pursue. The garrison commander covered our retreat, shooting down more than ten of them, and died with valor — thanks to him, we managed to escape into the Ghost and Demon Waste. At the time, there were seventeen people who made it back alive to the prefectural seat, each one of them a living witness! If you wish to overturn the case on his behalf — very well! Look at what stands before you — look at what lies under your feet! Three years ago, five hundred and thirty-six bodies of Great Tang heroes and martyrs lay there. Turn each one of them over one by one!”
Lin Sima glared at Yuzao with a hoarse, screaming shout. His roughened face was streaming with tears. His voice was raw as he said, “I know who you are. You are the daughter of Prefect Wang. You’ve come today to seek justice for Lv Sheng. I am a small soldier under Prefect Wang — your family can crush me like stepping on an ant. But this justice — you cannot get it. Because the bodies pressing down on Lv Sheng’s tombstone are too many, and too heavy.”
Yuzao’s blade rang out as she drew it and pressed it to Lin Sima’s throat. Lin Sima burst out laughing. “I come from a poor family of iron-pot makers. My father named me Lin Sima — his lifelong wish was to own four horses for the family. Yet I was born strong, able to push four horses back with my bare hands. The name turned out to be fitting in its own way. But the thing I am most proud of in my life is that I killed Lv Sheng, that beast! That day, we remnants of a defeated army surrounded Lv Sheng and demanded an account from him. It was exactly like this — I put my blade to his throat — and in the end forced a confession from him of his act of treason in colluding with the Tujue to seize the Qingdun Outpost. Then I cut off his head with one stroke! You want to take revenge for Lv Sheng — then come!”
“I will kill you—”
Yuzao’s arm trembled. She let out a shout of fury and brought her blade sweeping down.
“You must not!”
Xuanzang moved with sudden swiftness. From under Li Chan’s armpit he drew out a straight blade and blocked Yuzao’s stroke.
A resounding clang — sparks scattered. Xuanzang’s blade flew from his grip and tumbled down below the wall. But Yuzao’s blow had also fallen on empty air. In the end it sliced into the city wall, crumbling dust flying. Li Chan, only now reacting, flung both arms around Yuzao’s and held on tight.
The garrison soldiers inside the compound had been startled by the commotion and were looking up. Many had quietly drawn their blades, expressions fierce with anger. Even the merchant travelers who had just arrived outside the garrison walls came over and stood staring up at the scene in stunned confusion.
Lin Sima said nothing. He stared at the three of them with cold, hard eyes, and gradually a look of madness crept into his gaze.
In the midst of this silent standoff, Linghu Zhan — his face covered with a cloth, concealed within the merchant caravan — gave a quiet signal. The caravan’s superintendent came to the entrance of the barbican and called up, “Zhang’s Trading House of Gaochang — here to present transit documents for inspection and passage.”