In 936 AD, on the seventh day of November in the third year of Qingtai in the Later Tang Dynasty, the four gates of Liangzhou were opened, and the newly built Liangzhou City took on a new look with red decorations.
Not only the traveling merchants, but also the locals in Liangzhou couldn't help but praise it when they saw the Liangzhou City at this moment.
Several elders from the Li family of Gu Zang in Liangzhou couldn't help but burst into tears at the Zhaowu Gate of the south gate.
After so many years, it was probably only when Zhang Yichao regained Liangzhou that Wuliang Capital had such a majestic moment.
The so-called new people and new atmosphere, they finally felt it!
More than sixty years ago, after Zhang Taibao entered the court and the Guiyi Army withdrew from Liangzhou, the city began to decline visibly, not only in terms of city defense, but also in the morale of the people in the city.
And after Zhang Taibao's great-grandson entered Liangzhou again, the city slowly began to wake up like a sleeping lion.
But when the gates of Liangzhou City were opened, the alertness of the five satellite fortresses around Liangzhou and the two counties of Guzang and Shenniao had already been raised to the highest level.
Once there is any warning, the officers and soldiers of the Guiyi Army stationed everywhere will respond as quickly as possible.
In particular, the army responsible for defending the Ganzhou Uighurs in the west raised their security to the highest level.
That is to say, when they were all so vigilant, Liangzhou City was able to open its four gates, revealing its safety and happiness.
Today is Zhang Zhao's twenty-fourth birthday, and birthday congratulators from all over Liangzhou, Shazhou, Dunhuang and other places have already arrived.
....
Liangzhou Hexi Jiedu Yamen, the descendants of Anxi Tang'er who had just arrived in Liangzhou, mainly the descendants of the three surnames of Xinqiuci, and the men and women of Basimi people who belonged to Zhang Zhao's private tribe, directly took over the Jiedu Town Shuai Mansion All aspects of diet and daily life.
Starting from the beginning of Jishi (around nine o'clock in the morning), a large number of people from various departments began to rush to Hexi Jiedu Yamen.
The several housekeepers and singers who were in charge of reception at the door shouted with smoke rising from their throats, and all the respectable people from around Liangzhou came.
As for Zhang Zhao's wishful thinking, there is not a single idiot who dares not to give him face or come to celebrate his birthday, giving him a chance to get angry.
"Chief Shen of the Yangfei Valley Tribe, Chief Zhebu of the Hongyuan Valley Tribe, General Zhao Zhen of the Zhao Family of Xiying River, Zamu River, Dong Dahe, and Huangyang River, a total of six chiefs have arrived!"
Hearing the call-caller shouting loudly outside the door, the Han officials in Liangzhou City who had arrived earlier stood up and looked at the door with complicated expressions.
The Han people in Liangzhou and Fumoshi have been fighting with each other for more than ten years. I didn't expect that today there would be a scene where all the Yamen were gathered in the Hexi Jiedu Yamen.
"The leaders of the six tribes presented fifty long-haired cattle, five hundred long-haired sheep, one hundred cowhide, twenty kilograms of beef sinew, ten kilograms of gold, and one hundred kilograms of silver!"
Inside the house, Cui Huxin curled his lips. The long-haired cattle were the yaks of later generations, and the long-haired sheep were the Tibetan long-haired sheep of the snowy plateau in later generations.
These gifts can only be said to be quite generous, but compared with the wealthy Liangzhou Han people, they are still slightly inferior.
But soon, he heard the shouts of the call-takers outside the door, and their voices were distorted by excessive excitement.
"The chiefs of the six tribes specially presented a hundred white horses and two white-haired sacred oxen!"
A white horse is not particularly rare, but a white sacred cow is, and the two appearing together represent an even more unusual meaning.
At this time, in people's eyes, extremely rare white animals will be cast in an auspicious halo, and the same is true for white yaks.
These pure white plateau boats are actually not uncommon in later generations. Tianzhu white yak is a specialty of Tianzhu County, Wuwei.
However, in this era, the breeding technology of white yak was still very backward. Even though the territory of Tianzhu County in later generations was in the six parts of Sumo, white yaks at this time were still rare and were often regarded as the incarnation of the mountain god.
Historically, when the Tubo people here paid tribute to the Central Plains Dynasty, the white-haired oxtail must have been the first and most impressive tribute.
It even happened that during the Xianping reign of Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, Pan Luo of the Liugu tribe did not have white-haired oxtails among the tributes he sent to the Song Dynasty. His envoy was regarded as a counterfeit and was arrested by the Song Dynasty border generals.
It can be seen that the white yak, even its tail, has extremely important symbolic meaning in the six parts of the world.
The appearance of the white yak and the white horse together represents the surrender of the six tribes of Shimo, or at least a sign of their willingness to regard Zhang Zhao as their leader.
After the roll call was completed, more than a dozen leaders of the Liugu tribe, large and small, also entered the banquet and took their seats.
Older people like Shen Zhihai and Zhao Zhenjiang could still keep their composure, but the younger Cui Huxin and Zhebu Jiashi made eye contact and snorted in unison.
"The four chiefs of the great families of Liangzhou, Cao Cao, Kang, Shi, and He, have arrived. The chiefs of the four families have donated three thousand catties of iron and one hundred and fifty bactrian camels. I sincerely wish you good health and good health."
After hearing the arrival of the Sogdian merchants from Liangzhou, the two groups of people, who were blowing their beards and staring at each other, slowly dispersed.
These Sogdians knew that Zhang Zhao was privately called Great Khan, and it is said that they became Zhang Jun's chartered wealthy merchants. Even Cao Wantongxi changed the surname Cao Wan, which was rich in Tubo style, back to Cao.
You must know that in the past, the Cao Wanjia and the Sogdian Chamber of Commerce were considered to be ethnic groups close to the six tribes of Ammo.
Now they have changed their surname and still call Zhang Zhao the Great Khan, which shows that they have begun to distance themselves from the Amo tribe again.
"The military envoy invites the leaders of the four families of Cao, Kang, Shi, and He to take a seat!" The steward in charge of the banquet directly led the leaders of the four Sogdian surnames to the six tribes of Ammo and the Han people of Liangzhou.
This is the treatment they deserve. The one hundred and fifty Bactrian camels are the strategic materials Zhang Zhao needs most.
Liu Di has initially completed the design of the camel cyclone cannon, and now he can start training once the camels are in place.
The three groups of people had just sat down when suddenly the middle door of the mansion of the Commander-in-Chief of Jiedu Yamen was opened directly. Everyone stood up and looked at the door. The person who could let Zhang Zhao open the middle door to welcome him must be an important guest.
The first ones to appear were two envoys, each holding a gift. Zhang Zhao, who had not shown up yet, hurried out and took the two gifts with his own hands.
Kang Jinshan, who was relatively well-informed, smiled proudly, pointed at the two envoys and said: "Everyone, this is a gift sent by the military envoy's aunt, Her Royal Highness Princess Fengtian of Jin Kingdom, and the military envoy's biological mother from the Wenhua Song family in Dunhuang.
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Everyone suddenly realized that it was no wonder that Zhang Jun had to go out to greet him in person. It turned out that it was his mother who sent someone to deliver a birthday gift.
After these two envoys, more than ten people wearing brocade robes suddenly knelt down and called themselves kings outside the door.
These people are not of the same race at first glance. They have all kinds of skin colors, and even their beliefs look different.
There are Tianfang believers with their heads covered, Daqin Dharma believers with crosses hanging on the parapets, and even Zoroastrian believers who are almost invisible in the Central Plains.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty, Zhao Junde, the Minister of Huangmen of the Kingdom of Jin, and others, have been ordered by the Great Sage and Emperor to set off westward since the beginning of July. The Great Sage and Emperor ordered us to escort tens of thousands of catties of cotton. We sincerely wish your Majesty good health!"
"You have worked so hard, sir. My uncle knows that! These ten thousand kilograms of cotton wool will just solve someone's urgent need!"
Is the emperor in good health? Are the countries in the Anxi River safe? Guo Guangde, you are here too, are Suiye and the people of Talos safe?"
Zhao Junde, the minister of Huangmen, did not stand up, but knelt on the ground and said loudly: "The great sage and the emperor are in good health. When I left the royal city, the emperor got a new princess and a prince. He held a grand banquet to enjoy the people. I just miss the king."
, so he sent his ministers and others to come and say hello.
In the twenty-fourth year, the emperor sent an army to defeat the Geluolu people in the south of Baishan Mountain. There were more than ten thousand corpses, and Saktu only escaped with his life.
In the river, several kings of Saman Persia were quarreling with each other, and Hamid Emir of Bukhara sent envoys to pay tribute for three consecutive years, and he was very peaceful."
The twenty-fourth year mentioned by Zhao Junde refers to the twenty-fourth year of Khotan’s own reign, which was last year.
Baishan is located northeast of Qiuci and is the main route from the Land of Seven Rivers to Shule and other places southward.
Saktu's defeat this time may mean that he will not be able to move south in five or eight years.
Hamid of Samampos was also as good as before, and with such a huge advantage, he actually turned the kings into a fight.
"The Holy Body of the Great Khan is peaceful and peaceful. Since the Great Khan returned to the east, the trade routes have been smooth. He who stayed behind has been very effective in managing the broken leaves, and all the tribes are happy.
The Talos garrison envoy Li Gongguoshou took advantage of the civil strife in Saman Persia last year and led his army to recover Baishui Hucheng and other places.
The only remaining city of Shiguo (Tashkent) to the east of the Persians was killed by the Persians. We will go and surround it every year, and we will not leave until we get a lot of money and food."
Zhang Zhao couldn't help but laugh, how fast Saman Bosula was! Even the fortresses such as Baishui Hu City were lost. A guard dog like Li Guoshou was able to lead his army to surround Shi Guocheng to extort them.
"Your Majesty, you have come a long way to work hard. You should stay in Liangzhou for a while. Please take a seat first!"
Zhang Zhao was overjoyed to hear that the forces he had left in the Western Region were developing well. As long as they could maintain a stable foothold in the Western Region, it would be easier to operate after the Central Plains were unified.
After this set of questions was completed, the six tribes of Ammo, the Han people of Liangzhou and the four Sogdians who arrived first were really shocked.
This is the mode of asking questions between kings and ministers. The words "king" and "holy body" are not used casually.
Originally, they only knew that Zhang Zhao had expanded thousands of miles in the Western Regions, but had no specific feelings about it. However, it was not until this moment that they fully felt this unusualness.
Of course, they are more puzzled. They don't understand that Zhang Zhao already has this status in Anxi and Hezhong, why would he come back?
It is better to be a king in Anxi and in the river than to be a king in Liangzhou!
The middle gate has not yet been closed, Zhang Zhao is standing at the gate and has not left. The three forces from Liangzhou City have not entered at all. They all gathered at the gate to see who else is coming in from the middle gate.
After a while, waves of Buddha's chants were heard, and countless virtuous and eminent monks wearing various colored robes appeared outside the door. The knowledgeable ones began to help everyone identify them one by one.
Not to mention Dayun Temple, Big Buddha Temple, Guanyin Temple in Liangzhou City, Suzhou Tiefo Temple, Shazhou Lingyuan Temple, Guanyin Temple and Xianyan Temple, which is famous throughout Hexi, are all visited.
The temple still exists in later generations, and it is the famous Leiyin Temple in Dunhuang.
After the temples in Guashasu and other prefectures came, eminent monks from the Western Regions temples such as Dayun Temple in Shule, Anxi, and Samoruo Temple in Khotan, who came with Zhao Junde and others, also arrived one after another.
"People from Lanzhou Majestic Temple are here. They are really well informed. It seems they know that His Holiness is here!"
Strictly speaking, Lanzhou only belongs to the peripheral forces of Liangzhou. Even the Guiyi Army during the Zhang Yichao period never really controlled Lanzhou.
And now, someone has come to visit Lanzhou Weiyan Temple. This is the largest temple in Lanzhou today.
Its predecessor was the palace of Jincheng Xiaowei in the late Sui Dynasty. It was called the palace of Xue Ju, the overlord of the Western Qin Dynasty. It was only changed to Weiyan Temple after the Tang Dynasty destroyed Xue Ju. Its status in Lanzhou is not low.
"The Buddha is merciful, and the poor monks are not late after all. I don't know where the Dharma King's dharma frame is? The Ramoche Temple in Luoche, the Princess Subi Wencheng Temple, and the envoys of Guge King Jide Nyimagun came to see him."
The three people who arrived at the finale immediately made everyone in Liangzhou look unhappy.
Luosu is Lhasa, and Subinai is the Yushu area. These are the heartland areas of Tubo. When the Tubo Empire was strong, they would kneel down and worship when they saw these people.
As for the envoy of King Jidenimagon of Guge, it is even worse.
Although Jidenimagon has been driven to Guge, which is the Ali area in later generations, his bloodline is very noble in today's Qingtang Plateau. His fourth generation ancestor is the last Tibetan Zanpu Bodhidharma.
As soon as these three people arrived, Zhang Zhao's birthday banquet officially began. Although the monks and laymen held separate banquets, the minds of the people in Liangzhou on the left were still completely attracted to the right.
In particular, the appearance of the envoys from Ramoche Temple and King Guge shocked them even more.
Zhang Zhao was able to get these people here not entirely because of the attraction of his name as Dharma King, but actually because they all had their needs.
Because seventy or eighty years ago, after Tubo Zanpurang Dama came to the throne, he adopted a cruel policy of destroying Buddhism on the Qingtang Plateau. Countless monks were forced to return to secular life, and struggles spread throughout the Tubo Empire.
Although Langdama later died in an assassination attempt by a monk, Buddhism on the plateau has never been revived.
Even Buddhist holy places like Ramoche Temple are currently closed.
Moreover, Ramoche Temple and Princess Wencheng Temple are in an even more disadvantageous situation on the plateau due to their close relationship with the Han region.
They need a strong foreign aid, and Zhang Zhao, who bears the title of Dharma King, seems so suitable.
Similarly, Zhang Zhao also borrows from them, except for the current use to improve his strength.
Historically, the trick used by the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties to return the Qingtang Plateau to the state was to support Buddhism and strengthen ties. Zhang Zhao could be considered a foreshadowing here, not to mention he also has the title of Dharma King.
Among them, the one who made the connection was Guge King Jidenimagon. Now the Tubo Empire has been wiped out.
But the thought of returning to logic and becoming Zampu continued to stimulate Jidenimagon, so he and Zhang Zhao hit it off immediately.
But he didn't know that Zhang Zhao would never let another Zanpu appear on the plateau, and with his ability and strength, he couldn't be a Zanpu.
After the banquet, eminent monks from major temples will hold a grand Dharma assembly in Liangzhou, taking advantage of the birthday of Fa Wang Zhang to make a good impression on the Buddhist community in Longyou, Hexi.
In the crowd, a guy dressed as a Sogdian disappeared. He knew that there was no hope for the Ganzhou Uighurs.
Because the whole of Hexi, that is, the Yaogeluo family still believes in Manichaeism, Zhang Zhao wants to make them into aliens and enemies of Buddha in Longyou, Hexi.