Chapter 1: 1

Chapter 1 – Prologue

 

In the 25th year of the Yuantai1 era of Great Zhou, the Eastern Tatars2 invaded Northern Xinjiang3. The border defense army of Northern Yan4 Iron Cavalry met up with the garrisons of the Ning and Tong Prefectures. These forces combined at the Wuding River to win a devastating victory over the Eastern Tatar troops, driving them seven hundred Li5 back to reclaim the West Autumn Gate.

In August of the same year, the Eastern Tatars’ Dark Pearl troops6 presented a memorial pleading to surrender, expressing their willingness to return to submitting to the Great Zhou’s authority, declaring themselves vassals, and paying tribute. On the 16th of August, the ambassadors of both sides completed the ceremony of surrender on the banks of the Wuding River. It was arranged for the Dark Pearl troops to pay an annual tribute of fur, medicine, horses, gold, and silver. They were also to send the Khan’s own son to the capital, entering the Imperial College to learn the etiquette and propriety of the Central Plains.

In September, the imperial court issued a decree ordering the commander of the Northern Yan Iron Cavalry, the Marquis7 of Jing Ning8, Fu Shen, to escort the Tatar diplomatic corps to the capital for an audience with the sovereign.

With the war stable at the moment and the Dark Pearl troops having retreated back outside the Gate, Fu Shen had no worries for the time being. He therefore ordered his subordinate Yuan Huan to take the main force back to Northern Xinjiang, while he himself commanded a team of his finest riders to escort the diplomats southwards.

On the 9th of September, the diplomatic corps was passing through the Blue Sand Pass9 when the ground began to tremble incessantly. The mountain walls on both sides collapsed with a loud crash, gravel and rocks falling like rain, scaring the horses to bolt wildly. In the haste, the carriage of the young Tatar prince could not dodge in time, and was actually smashed directly open by a boulder falling from the sky.

The terrain of the Blue Sand Pass was narrow and precipitous, but given its location within the Great Zhou’s territory, it had always been peaceful. Reasonably speaking, no ambush should have taken place there. Fu Shen had continuously been on guard and taken extensive precautions this entire way, but he could never have imagined such an unexpected disaster of a landslide right at the threshold of his own home. He temporarily had no room to care for any princes; seeing the falling rocks tumbling directly down in front, he immediately turned the head of his horse around and shouted a “Retreat!”, leading the mass of people rushing back to the original entrance of the pass.

The smoke and dust wafted up in all directions, almost dyeing the entire valley into the color of the sand. Among the high treetops, an ingeniously crafted crossbow mechanism adjusted its direction, the sinister cold light of the arrowtip lining up with the Northern Yan commander spurring his horse to run like mad.

In this moment of imminent crisis, those keen instincts tempered on the battlefield were what saved his life. The arrow split the wind as it flew through the air, but Fu Shen seemed to have grown eyes on his back. He ducked low and bent over while abruptly pulling on the reins. The military horse came to a sudden stop, rearing its front hooves high in the air and turning a half circle in place, just enough to avoid the cold arrow aiming to take his life. The arrowtip scraped his back in its rapid flight past him, clattering as it plunged half an inch into the stone wall and was then drowned by the tumbling sand.

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“Who’s there?!”

Who wanted to kill him?

This ice-cold thought only flashed in Fu Shen’s mind for an instant. The next moment, the calls and shouts of the surrounding soldiers pulled him back to reality.

“General, watch out!”

The enormous boulder that fell from above blotted out the sun and the sky, and completely cut off his line of sight backwards.

 

 

On the 9th of September in the 25th year of the Yuantai era, the Eastern Tatar diplomatic envoy was attacked at the Tong Prefecture’s Blue Sand Pass. The youngest Eastern Tatar prince was killed on the scene, and more than half of the diplomatic envoy was lost. The escorting Marquis of Jing Ning, Fu Shen, had both his legs crushed by a boulder. Severely wounded, he was sent back to Northern Xinjiang by trusted bodyguards riding day and night. Although his life was fortunately preserved, it was feared that recovery to normal would be difficult.

When this news was sent back to the capital, both the court and the commons erupted into an utterly stunned uproar.

The enraged and furious Yuantai Emperor issued an imperial edict for the three judicial chief ministries to strictly investigate this case. He also specially decreed favors to be bestowed to Fu Shen: adding ten thousand pecks of grain10 to the Marquis of Jing Ning’s original salary as an official, conferring him the title of “General Who Guards the State”11, bestowing him with the purple silk ribbon on a gold medal12, and permitting him to retain his position while returning to the capital for recuperation.

The matter of Fu Shen’s injury spread like wildfire through the capital, and many people privately guessed into whose hands the Northern Yan military power would fall after his injury. The emperor’s special decree temporarily stopped the more preposterous tongues: the commander’s might was still there, only temporarily far from the northern front. If General Fu was wise enough to recognize reality, he would hear these sweet songs and know the deeper kind thoughts behind them13; after returning to the capital, he would abdicate and relinquish his post to someone with better qualifications. Upon returning military power to His Majesty, he would be able to exchange his legs for a lifetime of glory, splendor, wealth, and rank.

From this point of view, His Majesty did not just give preferential treatment to those who had contributed outstanding service—his actions were “magnanimous” enough that they could even be called “doing everything possible to help.”

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The Marquis of Jing Ning and the Northern Yan Army at the center of these rumors received this decree yet showed absolutely no movement. Only at the the end of September did Fu Shen send a folded booklet letter detailing the handover arrangements for the military affairs of the garrison troops in the North, and asking the emperor for permission to quit his position and recuperate.

This letter enabled the Yuantai emperor to let out a breath of relief, following the usual rules to reject Fu Shen’s resignation and allow him to return to the capital from northern Xinjiang.

Numerous people in the capital counted the days on their fingers, raising their heads in anticipation to see what has become of the famous Marquis of Jing Ning. Thousands of miles away below a twilight sky, a small carriage surrounded by escorting bodyguards left the closely guarded Yan Prefecture City and sped towards the capital.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Footnotes: (yeaaaaah this is going to be pretty typical of this novel)

1. 元泰 (yuán tài) is the title of the current emperor, and this is the 25th year of his reign.

2. 东鞑(dōng dá): 鞑 Tatars are a Turkish-speaking people residing in Russia, who historically allied with the Mongols. Today they are one of the many ethnic minorities in China. It’s explained later that the Tatars split into multiple factions, and this is the Eastern tribe.

3. 北疆(běi jiāng) lit. “Northern Xinjiang” is also known as Dzungaria. As the name suggests, it is the northern half of the Xinjiang province, in the absolute Northwestern-most area in China. Historically, Xinjiang was traversed by the Northern Silk Road, and countless peoples have vied for control of this territory over the millennia.

4.  北燕(běi yàn) or “Northern Yan” was a northern state in China. Fun fact: it was just a tad north of China’s modern capital of Beijing (whose name literally means “Northern Capital”). See this image courtesy of Wikipedia: 
5. 里(lǐ) = Chinese unit of length, around 500 m (about 0.3 miles)

6. 乌珠部(wū zhū bù): 乌 = “dark/black/crow”, 珠 = “pearl”, 部 = “division or troops”

7. There were five aristocratic peerage ranks in feudal China. In descending order, these were Duke (gōng 公), Marquis (hóu 侯), Count (bó 伯), Viscount (zǐ 子), and Baron (nán 男).

Fu Shen was granted the title of Marquis, which fits very well since just like in feudal Europe, marquises are lords of borderlands/Marches.

8. 靖宁(jìng níng): 靖 = “to pacify”, 宁 = “peace”. “Marquis of Jing Ning” therefore means something like “Pacifying Marquis.” Fu Shen likely received this slightly ironic title because he is a military general in charge of defending the northern border against invaders.

9. 青沙隘: 青 is a strange color that can be blue, green, or teal/cyan; 沙 = “sands”; 隘 = “pass”

10. I’m not super sure what “千石” means in the context of increasing Fu Shen’s salary… I’m tentatively taking 石 to mean “10 pecks of grain”.

11. 镇国将军 lit. “General Who Guards the State” or “Guarding General” is the highest noble title among generals. (Still lower than those with imperial bloodlines though.)

12. 紫绶金印 lit. “purple silk ribbon and gold medal”. I’m not super sure what these signify to be honest, but they’re definitely a mark of honor.

13. 闻弦歌而知雅意 is a saying that effectively means “to listen for the deeper meaning”

 

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