Fendui furrowed her brows in serious thought for a moment, but ultimately shook her head:
“Western merchant caravans often traded in gold and silver items, including foreign vessels, cups, and plates. I’ve seen many pitchers of similar shape, but none with this dragon pattern left an impression. My knowledge is limited, and I regret failing your expectations, my lord.”
The four asked Fendui more questions, mainly about conditions within Tuyuhun. Unfortunately, the black-haired foreign girl knew little—before becoming a servant, she’d lived sheltered in her father’s compound, rarely going out or involving herself in the caravan business. Her deepest memory of the Longshang region was the violent uprising that destroyed her family two years ago.
First came the straight beacon smoke rising from outside Qingri City, then city guards mobilizing for defense, but somehow they couldn’t stop the invading army. The defending forces were overwhelmed, and under a rain of arrows, braided horsemen poured through the earthen gates like a flood, screaming as they spread through streets and alleys, burning, killing, and plundering. Burning torches first fell on her home’s roof and courtyard, followed by doors kicked in by horse hooves…
As Fendui spoke, she nearly wept, drawing sighs from all present. A gentle female voice murmured:
“The Xiongnu are beastly at heart, not our kind. They raid when strong and grovel when weak, disregarding kindness—it’s their nature. Peace is the foundation of civilization. When China is stable, barbarians naturally submit. Why abandon virtue for war-seeking conquest? When ambition overflows, disaster follows…”
Wei Shubin was speaking to herself, suggesting the court shouldn’t wage “pointless wars with barbarians” in outer territories like Longshang and Hexi, but should retreat to guard Guanzhong. Li Yuanxu understood her meaning and frowned, displeased.
Since childhood, he’d dreamed of battlefield glory and expanding borders. Wei Shubin’s pedantic scholarly views, likely learned from her father—what could a young girl know of military affairs?
Chai Yingluo glanced at Wei Shubin and chuckled:
“Ah Fen, let me ask you something—don’t be offended.”
“Please ask, Sister Ying.”
“Can you distinguish between the Xiongnu, Turks, Xianbei, and Tuyuhun tribes?”
“Uh…” Wei Shubin blushed. “The Xiongnu are long gone, I was just making a comparison…”
“Then do you know which is furthest west or north among Longshang, Xiliang, Dunhuang, and Qinghai? Which borders which?”
“Well… anyway… they’re all desolate foreign lands with harsh mountains and bitter waters, where crops won’t even grow… we shouldn’t waste Han men’s passionate lives there…”
Indeed, just parroting her father’s words. Wei Shubin’s own conviction weakened as she spoke, her eyes unconsciously glancing at Li Yuanxu before quickly looking down and falling silent.
“Since we have someone knowledgeable here, Fourteenth Uncle, explain it to us from the beginning,” Chai Yingluo smiled at Li Yuanxu. “These past two years in the palace, we’ve heard endless talk of subduing Tuyuhun until our ears are calloused. Where exactly is this barbarian state, what crimes have they committed to warrant such a distant imperial campaign?”
Li Yuanxu smiled back at Chai Yingluo: “At your command, Upper Truth Master—ah, if only we were in the study with its wooden terrain model, this would be much easier—I’ve got it!”
He pushed himself up and called to his attendant:
“Xinzhi, come here, lie down.”
“…My Lord?” The tall youth couldn’t believe his ears.
“Stop dawdling! Get over here and lie flat!”
The private room had no carpet, just cold, hard floor tiles. Bad enough, but sprawling out was extremely undignified, especially with women present.
Yang Xinzhi wore a pained expression but dared not disobey his master. After apologizing “Pardon me, Upper Truth Master” “Pardon me, Lady Wei,” much to Li Yuanxu’s impatience, he slowly lay down in the room’s center, stretched out his limbs, closed his eyes, and resigned himself to fate.
His muscular form’s contours made him look like a year-end sacrifice laid out for slaughter.
The young women in the room couldn’t help laughing. Li Yuanxu stood beside Yang Xinzhi and began explaining, first pointing to the youth’s chest:
“This is the capital Chang’an. Xinzhi’s body represents our Great Tang—well, the western territories anyway, let’s use this analogy for now—you understand the key point—the heart governs all organs, as the capital is where the empire’s lifeblood converges. If harmed, the realm falls to chaos, you naturally understand this.”
He stepped over Yang Xinzhi’s right arm and lightly kicked that giant head:
“Chang’an lies in the northwest, close to powerful foreign enemies, making it vulnerable to nomadic raids. When Sui fell to chaos, the northern Turks grew strong—Xinzhi’s head represents the Turkish royal court—their cavalry raided south every autumn, stealing our grain and people. When our Tang dynasty was founded, the Supreme Emperor and His Majesty did everything to counter the wolf armies, even becoming vassals, kowtowing, and sending gifts—no need to hide this. By Zhenguan’s third year, Li Yaoshi led six armies beyond the passes, struck the Jieli Khan’s camp in one blow, captured the king, and destroyed the state, avenging our shame and removing the northern threat.”
He bent down and drew his palm edge across Yang Xinzhi’s Adam’s apple. The tall youth obligingly made a choking sound, sending the women into fits of giggles.
“At their peak, the Turkish Khans allied with Khitan to the east,” Li Yuanxu kicked Yang Xinzhi’s extended left arm, “controlled various small states across the desert to the west, and particularly colluded with Tuyuhun on the Qinghai plateau. They say Jieli Khan’s birth mother was Tuyuhun.”
He stepped back from Yang Xinzhi’s head to below the right arm, intending to step on it saying “This is Tuyuhun,” but thought better of it and just touched it with his toe: “These are the Four Hexi Commanderies, forming a corridor from Chang’an to the Western Regions. Fendui’s home Dunhuang is at Yang Da’s wrist.”
Spinning around, Li Yuanxu’s slim figure sat in Yang Xinzhi’s open right armpit, hugging his knees and smiling:
“I am the old Tuyuhun Khan Fuyun.”
Everyone laughed again. Li Yuanxu continued:
“See where the Tuyuhun occupy—the Qinghai plateau, bordering our Longxi and Guanzhong to the east, the desert Khotan to the west, reaching Gaochang in the Western Regions to the north, and controlling our wealthy Bashu and Jiannan to the south. Their land produces the finest horses, but the high cold terrain makes farming difficult, so they mainly herd livestock and raid Longdong in autumn for winter provisions, just like the Turks. And Tuyuhun is even closer to our Chang’an—”
He thrust his hand straight at Yang Xinzhi’s heart:
“With one careless moment, they could gallop straight to Chang’an and threaten our capital. During the Wude years, several major Turkish invasions involved collusion with Tuyuhun, even using Tuyuhun cavalry as the main force. In Wude’s sixth year, when Ying Niang’s honored father led troops to war, using the pipa dance strategy to repel enemy forces—wasn’t that defending against Tuyuhun?”
Chai Yingluo nodded confirmation with a smile. Encouraged, Li Yuanxu continued:
“Tuyuhun poses too great a threat to our Tang heartland. Even if they can’t strike the capital directly, they control the Hexi Corridor to the north and overlook Shu lowlands to the south, occasionally sending detachments to harass here, cavalry to plunder there, keeping everyone frantically busy and anxious, making borderlands live in fear, requiring year-round military preparedness…”
As he spoke, he tickled Yang Xinzhi’s upper arm, armpit, and waist, making the tall youth beg for mercy while the women dissolved into giggles. But Li Yuanxu grew serious:
“With such strategic position, as military texts say, naturally advantaged by terrain—if they maintained good relations with our Great Tang, trading peacefully, that would be fine. But their current Khan Fuyun considers himself an unmatched hero, and seeing our army destroy the Turks, rather than submit, he thinks it’s his chance to replace them and command the northwestern nomads. He wants to be hegemon under our Heavenly Khan’s nose—how can we not fight this war!”
His forceful argument rang true. Li Yuanxu felt completely justified and couldn’t help glancing at Wei Shubin again, but saw the girl still frowning slightly, without the expected look of convinced admiration.
“I am young and ignorant, but have read that in Emperor Wu of Han’s time, seeking connections with western barbarians cost half of China’s people their lives…”
As Minister Wei’s eldest daughter slowly began speaking, sudden footsteps approached outside, and a servant rushed in, tripping on the threshold and crying out:
“M-master! General Cheng has entered the temple with his men!”