Was Great Tang’s grain truly so abundant it couldn’t all be eaten? Ma Zhou never thought so. He sat in the military camp calculating item by item. The grain entering the grasslands had a fixed quantity, and its amount was almost exactly equal to the highland barley production the herdsmen grew themselves. This was the most accurate figure that could only be obtained by deeply embedding oneself in the herdsmen’s lives.
In these years at Yinshan, his time had not been wasted. From living like a walking corpse at the beginning to later pulling himself together—this period wasn’t long. That reckless behavior in Chang’an had nearly cast him into the eighteenth layer of hell. If not for Mr. Yun Ye’s long letter, Ma Zhou would have only wanted to live like a savage and never return to Chang’an for the rest of his life.
He didn’t understand why in an instant he had fallen from being a hero pleading for the people to becoming a despicable person who betrayed teachers and friends. Ma Zhou searched his conscience—his heart held no such treacherous thoughts. Why then did everyone say he was wrong?
Land annexation had been a malignant tumor on dynasties since ancient times. Why couldn’t it be touched? The rich grew richer, the poor grew poorer. Even if Great Tang were the fish of the Northern Deep, one day it would be completely divided up by those meritorious nobles. Without shaking off the borers, wanting to fly ninety thousand li? Dream on!
Mr. Li Gang, Mr. Yuanzhang, Mr. Yushan, Mr. Lishi, Mr. Yun Ye—you are all wise men among men. How could these crises possibly escape your discerning eyes? Why do you keep silent?
Mr. Yun Ye wanted to satisfy the Great Tang people’s desire for land through expanding territory—this was drinking poison to quench thirst! Why didn’t such a wise gentleman understand?
Ma Zhou believed that before leaving Chang’an, he already possessed the noble sentiments of being the sole haggard one while caps and carriages filled the capital. Who would have thought that in these years at Mobei, his noble sentiments were quickly drowned by busy affairs. He, a staff officer who didn’t participate in military matters, administered seven thousand herdsmen households. Trying to bring them all under Great Tang’s governance—how difficult it was!
By now, Ma Zhou had no blade handle in his grasp. This meant he had absolutely no deterrent power over those herdsmen. This was a place that worshipped martial strength. Many times, he was almost helpless with the herdsmen.
Years of reading books of sages and worthies made him extremely detest killing and brutality. Wanting to use the methods of sages and worthies to reform the herdsmen—the final result, even he was unwilling to recall.
Fortunately, he was still fairly clever. If martial force couldn’t subdue these people, then he would use wisdom to move them. Still, there were some results, but when wisdom became naked deception, it made Ma Zhou unable to sleep or eat in peace.
Tents weren’t good—too cold in winter. It was better to use mud and grass to build houses. That way, in winter they wouldn’t freeze to death. Wool was useless. Just use scissors to cut it off, roll it up nicely, give it to merchants, and you could exchange it for some grain and hemp cloth. Strong liquor was a good thing and troublesome to make, so it was expensive. Good things were generally expensive—one cow could only exchange for one jar. The court was benevolent—two cows could exchange for three jars. Trading with the court was better…
Ma Zhou quickly became the most popular person on the grasslands because he could always use the waste materials the herdsmen didn’t want to exchange for grain, cloth, salt, and iron pots. Wool would grow back after shearing the sheep. It was just that after shearing, the sheep’s whole body was red and ugly. Cow horns, cow tendons, horse tails—those merchants desperately wanted them. The herdsmen didn’t know what use these things had, but Ma Zhou knew, so he firmly believed that one day he would descend to Avici Hell.
This year was good! The Ta tribe and Mo tribe under Yinshan would finally stop planting highland barley and begin raising sheep with full effort. Very good! Ma Zhou took his red pen and crossed out these two tribes on the map. Tribes that no longer posed a threat were nothing more than a flock of sheep.
Ma Zhou’s brow suddenly furrowed. Why were his junior martial sister’s cries coming from outside? Who could bear to make such a precious little treasure cry? Pushing aside the documents on the desk, Ma Zhou exited the tent. He saw Old Sun holding his junior martial sister and gently consoling her, but she was crying inconsolably with a very shrill voice.
“Mr. Sun, my junior martial sister has always been well-behaved and never cries. Why does she cry so sorrowfully today?” Ma Zhou’s question only made things worse—when he asked, Yun Mu cried even more miserably, reaching out her little hands toward Ma Zhou wanting him to hold her, not Old Sun.
Taking Yun Mu from the helpless Old Sun’s hands, seeing her fair little face covered with tears—she was truly heartbroken. Hearing her constantly calling for daddy made Ma Zhou’s heart fill with bitterness.
Old Sun recounted the entire sequence of events to Ma Zhou, which immediately made him explode with rage. His junior martial sister wasn’t foolishly causing trouble—she was handling proper business. A noble young lady of Great Tang, seeking two lowly slaves, had actually suffered such humiliation. This was truly outrageous!
“Old Fu, Old Lu, go summon the chieftains of the White Sheep tribe, Black Sheep tribe, and Three Flower tribe. I want to see how many heads they have that they dare humiliate little Mu like this.”
Before Old Sun could even dissuade him, he saw two old servants hurrying to the riverside to find people. Ma Zhou carried Yun Mu into the tent, got some cheese curds for Yun Mu to eat, then sat behind the desk with a dark expression, waiting for the three ignorant chieftains to arrive.
Before long, three Tubo people wrapped in sheepskin robes walked in with smiles on their faces. Seeing Ma Zhou’s angry expression, they first froze, then immediately smiled and paid respects to Yun Mu. They were very clear about who in this tent had the most prestigious status.
“Where are the people my junior martial sister wanted?” Ma Zhou’s voice was slow and low.
The three Tubo people looked at each other, very puzzled, not understanding what Ma Zhou was talking about. The chieftain of the Three Flower tribe asked quietly: “I don’t know what person the young lady wanted?”
“Do you remember the big dogs you gave to my junior martial sister the year before last?” Ma Zhou was also quite surprised. Looking at the three men’s appearance, they seemed not to know about this. Could it not be these three?
“I remember, I remember. I don’t know if the young lady is happy using them. If she likes them, I’ll send someone to deliver more.” The chieftain of the Three Flower tribe was quite proud. He had only sent eight big dogs, yet unexpectedly, Madam had reciprocated with three jars of strong liquor and five iron pots. Although the tribe didn’t lack these things, now whenever he came here on business, he always received courteous treatment. This was what he valued most.
“The young lady wants Danzhu’s wife and children. Just send them over. Do you know what other Tubo people came to the Day of Tribute this time?” Ma Zhou was quite certain that the one who made his junior martial sister cry bitterly wasn’t these three, because as assimilated barbarians who dealt with Great Tang year-round, they clearly knew which people on this land couldn’t be provoked and naturally wouldn’t offend his junior martial sister over two lowly slaves.
The chieftain of the White Sheep tribe said: “A few days ago, a very large group came down from the snowy plateau. They came through Tuyuhun and are all warriors. Just now someone asked me who gave big dogs to a little girl. Very fierce. Three Flower wasn’t there, so I said I didn’t know. They asked every Tubo person they saw. I was just thinking of reporting this matter to Staff Officer, and unexpectedly you asked.”
Looking at these fawning Tubo people, Ma Zhou felt pride from the bottom of his heart. These people were the result of his three years of effort. Originally all unruly heroes, in just three years they had been trained by Great Tang’s prosperity into their current appearance.
The war between the Eastern Women Kingdom, Yangtong tribe, and Songtsen Gampo continued. These former Tubo nobles could only flee everywhere, avoiding the flames of war. He didn’t know what benefits had been given to Xie Li back then to actually agree to let them settle on the grasslands. Now that Great Tang had become the master of this land, they naturally needed to pledge allegiance to Great Tang anew and were even more docile than the Turks on the grasslands.
A large group of Tubo people had come? Ma Zhou couldn’t help but smile. Another group of pitiful people fleeing the flames of war. It seemed he needed to consider whether to incorporate these newly arrived Tubo people.
“Staff Officer Ma, something’s not right. The person the young lady encountered is definitely not an ordinary figure. Old Sun has seen the world, and I can be certain that person is a great noble, a great nobleman with extraordinary martial skills.”
“A great nobleman?” Ma Zhou raised his head to look at Old Sun, then at the Three Flower chieftain frantically nodding in agreement. He handed Yun Mu to Old Sun. He was prepared to go see just what kind of person could make Old Sun, who was accustomed to seeing nobles, evaluate them this way.
Ludongzan was now completely confused about what Great Tang was trying to accomplish by doing this. Having the Turks on the grasslands all herd livestock? That’s what they had done for generations. Was there really no problem with providing grain without limit like this?
The tribes in Jiannan obtained grain, proving their ability to resist disasters had strengthened. This was aiding the enemy! His earlier thoughts were truly laughable. In an instant, he had thought of countless methods that could make Great Tang suffer in silence.
Clever people always thought more than others. The Tang Emperor was a wise and martial emperor, not an incompetent person. What he himself could think of, the Emperor could surely think of too. Seeing the countless goods at the Day of Tribute market, he truly felt somewhat confused.
One possibility after another was rejected by him one by one. Who would have thought that on his very first day encountering Tang people, he would encounter such a difficult problem. This immediately aroused the proud spirit in his chest, and his desire to go to Chang’an to see became even stronger.
“Who are you? Which tribe? What are you doing here?” A very impolite voice came over. Ludongzan was somewhat displeased. This high-and-mighty tone—even Songtsen Gampo wouldn’t use it with him.
Before him was an official, from Tang. Ludongzan looked at his green robe, extended one hand, and quite naturally pushed Ma Zhou aside, continuing to examine the hemp cloth at this stall. He stretched it open with his hand and even counted the warp threads on the hemp cloth. Fifty-seven threads per inch was fine hemp cloth. This hemp cloth only had forty-five threads—it couldn’t be considered good quality.
“I am Staff Officer of Dingxiang Army, Ma Zhou. May I ask who you are? Do not bring misfortune upon yourself.”
Only then did Ludongzan say with a smile: “Go notify General Hou of Dingxiang Army. Say that the Grand Minister of Tubo, Gar Tongtsen Yulsung, by order of the Tsenpo of Tubo, Songtsen Gampo, is proceeding to Great Tang’s Chang’an to have an audience with His Majesty the Emperor of Great Tang.”
“To enter our border defense requires documentation. This is Great Tang law. How can you, the Grand Minister of Tubo, be an exception?”
“You’re a local official?”
“Correct!”
“What rank?”
“Seventh rank!”
“How dare a petty minor official obstruct this Prime Minister and demand official documentation?”
“To stop you, ninth rank would be sufficient. I’m the lowest-ranking official here and can only come verify in person—this is already giving special consideration!”