Chapter Ten Should Not Have Buddha

  Although Fan Gucheng is only a small border town in the far northwest of Daxi, it is no more than three and a half miles long and three miles wide, and its edges can be seen at a glance. However, there is no doubt that this small city was built extremely solidly. This is the most forward outpost on the northwest frontier, and beyond the Wolf's Milk Mountain Range opposite lies the territory of the Mongol Empire's Mandu Banner.

  On the other side of the Wolf's Milk Mountains, there is a similarly impregnable Nirvana City.

  Nirvana City is a stone castle, solid as a natural great mountain.

  Fan'er is not a stone city, but compared to the Nirvana City, it's only more fearful and has nothing to be ashamed of. This small city was built under the personal supervision of Yuwen Zhongshu, the Minister of Works of the Sui Dynasty at that time. It is said that the construction techniques used were no different from those used in building the capital city of Chang'an. When the scouts of the Mongol Empire first saw this small city with its earthen walls and outer layer of bricks, they even ridiculed and laughed at it. Only decades later did the Mongols realize how childish and laughable their initial ridicule was.

  Solid.

  As solid as a block of the hardest diamond.

  In the seventh year of Da Sui's reign, during the time when the previous emperor was in power, a war broke out between the Mongol Empire and Da Sui. Although the scale of the war was not large, its impact was far-reaching. At that time, 40,000 Mongolian cavalrymen crossed the Wolf's Milk Mountain Range and marched straight to Fan Gu, which had only 800 border troops at the time. The nearest reinforcements were in Ji Bei Prefecture, 450 miles away, where Zuo Xiu Wei was stationed. However, more than half of Zuo Xiu Wei's forces were heavy infantry, who could not arrive within a short period of time.

  In that battle, 40,000 dismounted wolf cavalry used over a hundred catapults to bombard Fan Fortress in shifts. The hundreds of kilograms of giant rocks transported from Langyushan Mountain densely fell, and actually stripped off the two layers of green bricks wrapped on the outside of the city wall of Fan Fortress.

  At that time, the commander of the Mongol Empire, Mandu Wolf, laughed and said: "There is no need to attack the city, just smash it like this, and within a day, we can knock down this broken earth city. At that time, the wolf riders will ride into the city on horseback, and killing everyone inside will be as easy as turning over one's hand."

  It was astonishing that after a day of intense bombing, Fan Gucheng seemed like a cooked egg, the shell shattered and broken, revealing the pitiful egg white inside. But no one could have imagined that what they thought was weakness was completely wrong, and the next scene would leave the Mongol Empire's jaw dropped to the ground.

  The seemingly fragile earth wall stands as firm as a mountain!

  Several hundred kilograms of heavy boulders were dropped, but only a white mark was left on the earthen wall. After the first day passed, one side of the city wall of Fan Guccheng had been neatly stripped of its green bricks. But that seemingly fragile earthen wall turned out to be as solid as a naturally formed mountain rock, and not even a crack was left when the stones hit it.

  Mandu Wolf was enraged, and on the second day he ordered the trebuchets to continue their fierce attack. It was another whole day, and only when the teams hauling stones from the Wolf's Milk Mountains were unable to keep up did they stop. Unfortunately, the walls of Fanggu City, which seemed like they could be blown down by a gust of wind, still stood proudly upright.

  In a fit of rage, Mandu ordered the attack on the city. Tens of thousands of Mongol cavalrymen began their assault. This was the first time since the founding of the Great Sui that the Mongols had attacked a Han Chinese city. The war between the founder of the Great Sui and the Mongols had broken the myth of the Mongols' invincibility on the plains. Now, little Fan Gao let the Mongol soldiers know what it meant to be unshakeable.

  The wolf cavalry on foot and the wolf cavalry on horseback are completely incomparable in combat effectiveness.

  Those wolf riders in leather armor, carrying the hastily made cloud ladders, clumsily charged forward, completely unaware of how to dodge and resist the feathered arrows shot down from the city wall. What terrified them most was the massive heavy crossbow installed on the city wall. The thick and powerful heavy crossbow shot down like thunder, capable of tearing a strong grassland warhorse into two pieces.

  After thousands of casualties, the wolf riders finally approached the city wall and clumsily erected the cloud ladder, clumsily climbing up. They drove their war horses like arms, but this siege was undoubtedly a nightmare for them. The wolf riders, who had been comfortable for too many years, had long forgotten that their ancestors were also invincible on the Central Plains.

  Six days, from the start to the end of the war, a full six days. The Mandu wolves left behind more than 4,000 corpses outside Fanggu Castle and retreated in disarray. Yu Sheng would often mention this battle with a sigh, pointing towards Fanggu and cursing incessantly. They retreated because the elite troops of Da Sui's Zuo Youwei finally arrived from hundreds of miles away.

  This battle made Fan Fortress famous throughout the land.

  This battle made the world know that the city of Great Sui is unshakeable.

  This battle also made Li Lian, the left-wing general of the Weiguo army, famous throughout the land. The reason is simple: at that time, only Li Lian and his 900 personal guards cavalry regiment rushed to Fangu City to rescue the border army. With 900 cavalrymen and a thousand flags, Li Lian scared off the Mando Wolf with tens of thousands of men and horses, making them flee back to the western part of the Wolf's Milk Mountains without daring to look back.

  The Left Guard was mostly heavy infantry, and it was impossible to arrive in time. Li Yuan had no other choice but to pretend to have a large army of 100,000. This is also the helplessness of the Great Sui border army. The Left Guard had an army of 50,000, but only managed to gather 900 cavalrymen. The Great Sui lacked war horses, and this can be seen from this.

  After this battle, Emperor Yang of Sui announced that all soldiers who guarded the city walls would be promoted to Colonel, each rewarded with 30 mu of meritorious fields, and no taxes would be paid to the government. The residents of Faner City did not have to pay taxes for ten years, and 50,000 taels of silver were allocated from the Ministry of Households to repair houses for the people and reward loyalty and bravery.

  General Li Ruan was promoted from Duke of a Commandery to Duke of a State and given the ceremonial rank of "Instrumental in Three Ministries".

  In that war, there was a young man who never left Li Luan's side, even though he knew it was possible to be surrounded by the Mongol Empire's tens of thousands of elite cavalry and face certain death. This youth was Li Luan's eldest son, who later inherited his title as Duke of Tang, and is now also the Right Vanguard General of the Great Sui's northwest shield, Li Yuanshan.

  Youxiang Wei was also stationed in Jibei Commandery, but not in the commandery seat of Jibei City.

  The right vanguard of 50,000 elite soldiers was stationed at Woxian Mountain, sixty miles away from Jibei City.

  ……

  ……

  "Governor Tang is too polite, this is our first time coming to the capital on business, if there's anything that's not properly arranged, please forgive us. You know, it's only because those people below have provoked His Majesty that His Majesty would send the officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War to conduct a thorough investigation outside the city. Along the way here, we also understand how hard the brothers in the border army work, so this is just a formality, Governor Tang can rest assured."

  The speaker was a eunuch wearing a light blue official uniform of the sixth rank, about thirty-five or thirty-six years old. His face was covered with a thick layer of white powder, and his lips were painted with an exceptionally bright color that made people feel sick. Although this eunuch was only of the sixth rank, it should be known that... once a eunuch has a rank, it can only mean that he is a favored person in the palace.

  The official uniform of the eunuchs was different from that of other officials, and was blue in color, with higher ranks having deeper colors. Moreover, there were no badges on their chests, nor could they wear Liangguan hats. The people in the Nei Shiwei Agency wore Feiyu uniforms, with a badge on their chest representing a strange beast recorded in the Shanhaijing.

  This eunuch was Wu Peisheng, the imperial secretary of the Imperial Study Room. He was truly a prominent figure in the palace. This time he had received the edict from Emperor Yang of Sui and was on an inspection tour with officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of War to the four circuits of Hebei, Hexi, Shanbei and Shandong. The Ji Prefecture belonged to the Shandong Circuit and was also the last stop of this inspection tour.

  Upon arriving at Jibei County, his first stop was not the city but rather a visit to Li Yuanshan at Woxian Mountain. As the eunuch in charge of the imperial study, he naturally knew the weight that this Right Xiwu General held in the emperor's heart. That's why he would say those flattering words earlier. Along the way, except when facing various provincial governors where he was humble and courteous, he had never been so polite even to a third-rank county magistrate.

  "What Mr. Wu said is nonsense."

  Li Yuanshan was thirty-three years old, the age when a man is mature and stable. He was of medium build, about 1.7 meters tall, not robust, compared to the fierce generals in the army, he lacked a bit of ferocity, and looked somewhat too thin. Especially compared to the seven tiger guards behind him, he seemed ordinary and unremarkable. Those seven tiger generals were all fierce warriors.

  Because he was going to receive the imperial edict, he specially wore a first-class national duke's court attire today, with a liang crown on his head. The court attire was deep purple in color, with an embroidered qilin on the chest. The national duke's liang crown had eight beams, which was the same as that of a junwang and a qinwang. This was the highest number for a subject, because the number nine was not used by anyone. For first-class officials, there were seven beams on the liang crown, six beams for second-class officials, three beams for fifth-class officials, and those below the fifth class were not allowed to wear a liang crown.

  The attire of the Sui dynasty's military generals and civil officials differed, with the biggest difference being the emblem on the front chest area of their official robes. Military generals had fierce beasts, while civil officials had flying birds. First to fourth rank wore purple robes, fifth to seventh rank wore blue robes, and eighth and ninth rank low-ranking officials wore green robes. Since the founding of the Sui dynasty, there has never been a military general with a first rank position; even the great generals of the 16 Guards were only third rank, and over the course of more than a hundred years, not one military general above third rank appeared.

  But the Duke of State is a first-class official, so Li Yuan wore an eight-beam crown on his head, a purple robe on his body, and a Qilin embroidered on the chest. The second-class military general painted a lion, and the third-class was a tiger.

  First-ranking officials wear purple robes, a seven-ridged hat, and a crane emblem on their chest; second-ranking officials wear a pheasant emblem, and third-ranking officials wear a peacock emblem.

  Li Yuanshan, being a Duke of the State, was allowed to wear an eight-ridged crown and an embroidered ceremonial robe with qilin patches. This was the imperial court's protocol, not one bit could be disordered. If it were disordered, there would be suspicion of plotting rebellion.

  He walked and turned his head to glance at Wu Peisheng, smiling: "Since Lord Wu has come down with the emperor's order to conduct a strict investigation, I will naturally cooperate. As for the accounts of money, grain, personnel, treasury, military equipment, and horses, I have already arranged for someone to prepare them properly. If Lord Wu wants to review them, I will send someone over later."

  "Tang Gongxie is dedicated to his duties, our family admires him."

  Wu Peisheng smiled, the white powder on his face falling off: "Since Tang Gong is so serious, if we continue to shirk responsibility, it would be considered lazy. If His Majesty asks about it, we wouldn't have a good explanation either. However... verifying accounts is the job of officials from the Grand Court and the Ministry of War, I'm just following along."

  Li Yuanshan turned his head and glanced back, the dozen or so officials from the Imperial Censorate and the Ministry of War who were following behind him all nodded in indication. His gaze deliberately lingered on the faces of three of them for a moment, and those three people almost simultaneously felt a slight tremble in their bodies.

  "The Daluo Temple has sent three Fa makers above the broken mirror this time, and it's really thoughtful. I heard that... the Ministry of War also sent a Fu master who has been in office for many years, why didn't he come together?"

  "Where did Mr. Tang get this news from..."

  Wu Peisheng smiled and said, "The Ministry of War only sent five clerks, all of whom are experts in arithmetic, just to verify the accounts. What broken mirror symbol master? We have a list of officials who came down for inspection this time. If Tang Gong doesn't believe it, he can take a look. The Ministry of War only sent one deputy official and four attendants, absolutely no symbol master."

  He lowered his voice and chuckled: "Tang Gong isn't unaware, after all, Master Fu's men are all treasures."

  Li Yuanshan was taken aback for a moment, then burst out laughing: "Indeed, in the Great Sui army, there aren't many broken mirror symbols like Shi Cong. If we were to investigate every single account, we'd have to send down a symbol master, and that would make the symbol masters too cheap."

  Wu Peisheng burst out laughing, and didn't even know why he was so happy.

  "Please!"

  Li Yuanshan made a gesture.

  "This Mount Woxian was originally named Mount Wofu. After our Great Sui dynasty was established, we expanded our territory year after year. In the 12th year of the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Tang, this land was conquered. At that time, the previous emperor heard that the name of this mountain was Mount Wofu and was greatly displeased. He then changed it to Mount Woxian, saying... Within the borders of Great Sui, there should be no Buddha."