Chapter 585: Inspecting Military Preparedness

As the end of October approached, a cold wave swept across the Central Plains, causing temperatures to drop sharply. The winter of the first year of Qingping had finally arrived. Everyone in Chang’an donned thick coats. What delighted the people even more was that winter clothing this year was half as expensive as in previous years. An influx of furs from Eastern and Western trade filled the markets in Chang’an. Once, a pair of leather boots or a leather coat could cost thousands or even ten thousand coins, but now an ordinary pair of leather boots could be bought for just one guan.

Moreover, a new type of winter clothing had emerged this year: cotton clothes. The outer layer was made of ordinary silk, while the lining was high-quality white folded cloth or linen. The key feature was the filling, which was all cotton imported from the Western Regions. Wearing such clothes kept one warm and breathable. Since the cotton was brought from distant Egypt by merchants from the Great Food Kingdom, it was very expensive. A piece of cotton clothing cost ten guan, more than the price of a leather coat, and it remained a luxury item only available to wealthy families. It was said that some wealthy families used this cotton to make quilts and pillows, with a single quilt costing a hundred guan—a price so exorbitant it was astonishing.

It wasn’t just winter clothing that had changed subtly. Many observant people noticed another interesting phenomenon: many horses on the streets of Chang’an had become noticeably larger, quite different from the small and thin horses of the Central Plains. These were Ili horses introduced from Anxi. However, these were just ordinary draft horses, not elite warhorses. The Anxi army strictly controlled the high-quality warhorses from the Western Regions, preventing breeds like the Dayuan horse and Arabian horse from entering Hebei, so as to stop An Lushan from using them to improve his cavalry horses.

The Tang Dynasty had always been influenced by foreign cultures, but previously it was mainly in terms of culture, clothing, music, dance, and other soft aspects. Now, however, a large number of Western goods were flooding into the Central Plains—silverware from Khorasan, knives from Damascus, gems from the nine Sogdian kingdoms, cotton cloth from Egypt, medicinal herbs from India, goldware and handicrafts from Byzantium, and so on. A vast array of goods gathered in Chang’an, which then served as a hub for distribution across the country.

At the same time, many new foreign faces appeared on the streets of Chang’an. Some had deep-set eyes and high noses, while others had blond hair and fair skin. These were merchants from Byzantium, and even Vikings from even farther west, as well as dark-skinned Sindhi merchants. Byzantine gold coins also appeared in the markets of Chang’an.

The people of Chang’an no longer uniformly referred to them as “Huns” as before; many Han people who enjoyed traveling ventured deep into the distant West. Upon returning, they wrote down their experiences in numerous travelogues, such as “Records of the Roman Countries” and “Records of the Arab Countries” by Xiao Ting from Chang’an, and “Observations on Egypt and Libya” by Wu Wanli from Luoyang. These travelogues were printed into books and began to circulate among the literati in Chang’an. Soon, various interesting anecdotes also spread among the common people, who enjoyed discussing them. All of this gradually changed the Tang people’s perception of the West. A typical example was that the people of Chang’an no longer used a generic term for foreigners but began to use specific names such as Uyghurs, people from Lingdong, Sogdians, Sindhs, Arabs, Romans, Franks, and so on. For instance, when a blond-haired, blue-eyed Western merchant came to a restaurant in Chang’an, the enthusiastic waiter would ask him in a few rudimentary words of Latin, “Roman? Frank?” All of this was the result of Li Qing’an’s ten years in Anxi. The widespread flow of goods gradually changed the Tang people’s disdain for merchants. Many wealthy Han families were also attracted by the substantial profits from international trade and began to form groups to go to the West for trade. In Yong County, Qizhou, Governor Cui Ning led local officials to wait along the Tang Straight Road for Li Qing’an’s arrival. This was Li Qing’an’s second visit to Yong County in two months—the first time was to assess the resettlement of immigrants from Hebei, and this time was for the Tang Straight Road. The construction of the Tang Straight Road took two and a half years. The eastern section had been largely completed, stretching from Xianyang to Yiwu County over a distance of tens of thousands of miles. Transfer stations, or warehouses, were built in Yong County, Huizhou, Liangzhou, and other places to store large amounts of strategic supplies. The road was about ten zhang wide, flat and solid, with not a single blade of grass growing on it. It was built after the model of the Qin Straight Road, but it differed from it in that it wasn’t a completely new road. A new road would take at least ten years to complete and would require enormous manpower and resources, almost the entire effort of the country. In contrast, the Tang Straight Road was simply an expansion and leveling of existing official roads, which greatly shortened the construction time to just two and a half years. Nevertheless, 300,000 laborers were mobilized, including 150,000 laborers from Sind and Tocharia, 100,000 Tibetan defectors, 50,000 residents from Longyou, Hexi, and other areas, along with hundreds of thousands of camels and horses and thousands of elephants. The construction of this road cost one million Anxi silver coins and three million bushels of grain imported from Sind—a truly massive project.

But it was the construction of this Tang Straight Road that greatly strengthened the connection between Anxi and the Central Plains. The journey from Beiting to Chang’an, which previously took 55 days, now only took 30 days—a reduction of nearly half. There was a post station every 50 li, with three messengers and five horses at each station to relay official documents. Using the fastest horses, it was possible to deliver documents from Beiting to Chang’an in just 12 days, a time comparable to that required by homing pigeons, yet the amount of information conveyed was far greater than what pigeons could deliver.

The Tang Straight Road served both military and civilian purposes. Its construction led to the flourishing of overland trade between the Western Regions and the Tang Dynasty. The peaceful environment, good road conditions, and the absence of bandits, along with post stations providing food, shelter, and rest along the way, greatly reduced the hardships and dangers of travel. This encouraged merchants to pursue profits, and one caravan after another began to appear on this long road.

Governor Cui Ning had been waiting for half an hour. Since his deep conversation with Li Qing’an last time, he had begun to see a brighter future and worked even harder to settle the immigrants. Half a month earlier, during the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Personnel’s evaluation of regions’ performance in resettling immigrants, Qizhou ranked first, and Cui Ning received an excellent annual evaluation. This was his fourth consecutive year of receiving such an evaluation, meaning he would be promoted next year.

“Governor Cui, they’re here!” an official shouted from afar.

A cloud of yellow dust could be seen in the distance as an army rushed toward them. Cui Ning’s spirits soared, and he instructed everyone, “Prince Zhao has arrived. Everyone must maintain proper etiquette.”

The officials nodded in agreement. Soon, the cavalry grew closer, and above the dust appeared a large flag with a black background and gold edges, bearing a large white character “Li” on it—Li Qing’an’s standard.

Li Qing’an’s visit was not entirely due to the completion of the Tang Straight Road. There was another important reason: to inspect the hay stores in Yong County. Yong County was a key storage area for the Tang army’s cavalry, with 300 large warehouses capable of holding tens of millions of dan of hay.

Hay was the most crucial strategic resource for the Tang army’s cavalry. People could eat grain, but horses needed grass, and in large quantities. After the mid-Tang period, the Han cavalry gradually declined. One reason was the deterioration of horse breeds. Since the Western Han Dynasty, many fine warhorses had been castrated, and inferior horses continued to reproduce, generation after generation, for centuries. By then, the horses in the Central Plains were slow, could not carry much weight, and were small in stature, far inferior to the nomadic cavalry.

Secondly, the disappearance of areas suitable for raising horses. After the An Lushan Rebellion, all Tang troops in the Western Regions were transferred to the Central Plains. The Tubo took advantage of this to occupy Longyou, Hexi, and Anxi, leaving the Han people without any land for raising horses. It became an undeniable fact that the army had no horses to use.

Thirdly, the high cost of cavalry. While training and equipping cavalry required substantial financial resources, the more critical issue was the difficulty of raising horses. Raising one horse required four mu of land for growing forage. Such high costs were beyond the bearing capacity of the agrarian Han civilization.

Li Qing’an’s Anxi army had one million war horses, and another 300,000 horses were used in campaigns in the Central Plains. It is easy to imagine how much forage was needed. Thus, stockpiling forage became a top priority for Li Qing’an in preparing for war against An Lushan.

Previously, there were two forage depots in Guanzhong: one was the large forage field within the Imperial Palace’s Simin Temple, where four million dan of forage were stored in open piles; the other was the Huazhou forage field, holding three million dan of forage. These were meant to supply the existing horses, but with the addition of 300,000 horses from Li Qing’an’s Anxi army, it was clearly insufficient to meet the needs of the Tang cavalry for even one winter. Therefore, the newly built Yongxian forage warehouse became crucial for the successful completion of military preparations.

Starting from Chang’an, 3,000 cavalry riders rushed forward at full speed to test the Tang Straight Road. From Chang’an to Fengxiang, they completed the inspection of hundreds of miles of the road in just two days. After that, Li Qing’an went to inspect the forage warehouses.

Seeing officials greeting him ahead, Li Qing’an gradually slowed down his horse. From afar, Cui Ning came forward and bowed, saying, “Welcome, Your Highness, to an inspection in Qizhou!”

Li Qing’an dismounted, handed the reins to his bodyguard, and stepped forward with a bow, saying, “I’m sorry for making Governor Cui wait.”

“It’s no problem. I heard that Your Highness is here to inspect the Tang Straight Road. Are you just passing through Qizhou, or will you return to Chang’an from here?”

Li Qing’an chuckled and said, “I’ve already finished inspecting the Tang Straight Road. I’m in Yongxian mainly to inspect the forage warehouses. Would Governor Cui like to accompany me?”

Cui Ning was momentarily stunned before realizing that Li Qing’an had rushed all the way here, meaning the inspection was already complete. The administrative office in charge of building the Tang Straight Road was located in Ganzhou—Li Qing’an surely wouldn’t go there to inspect it!

He quickly replied, “I’m willing to accompany Your Highness to inspect the forage warehouses. Please, Your Highness!”

“Let’s go!”

Everyone mounted their horses and headed west along the Tang Straight Road. Along the way, they happened to meet Tian Zhen, the governor of Fengxiang who had come to greet Li Qing’an. He quickly dismounted, knelt on one knee, and said, “This humble soldier, Tian Zhen, failed to greet you properly from afar. Please forgive me, General!”

Li Qing’an, knowing he was ill, dismounted to help him up and said, “General Tian, since you’re not feeling well, there’s no need for you to come all the way. You can wait for me at the fodder depot.”
“Thank you, General, for your concern. It is my duty to welcome you ten miles ahead—I dare not violate the Anxi military regulations.”
Seeing his seriousness, Li Qing’an said no more. The two mounted their horses and rode side by side.
“General Tian, how much fodder is stored in the depot now?”
“Reporting to the General, 500,000 loads of dry grass were delivered from Hexi the day before yesterday. Thus, the depot now holds 6 million loads of dry grass. However, we have already shipped 2 million loads to the grasslands in Huazhou. Including that, we have a total of 8 million loads. Yesterday, we received news from Longyou that another 2 million loads of dry grass will arrive next month—all fresh grass dried in spring.”
Li Qing’an nodded. In terms of quantity, it was enough for the Tang cavalry to use for most of half a year. What concerned him now was security. Especially after his scouts destroyed the gunpowder factory in Hebei, An Lushan was likely to target the fodder depot as revenge. He couldn’t afford to be careless.
“My purpose in coming here today is mainly to urge you to strengthen security, raise it to Class A, and eliminate any loopholes.”
“I will follow orders!”
They rode a few more miles and saw a large group of warehouses in the distance. The Yongxian Fodder Depot was located about three miles due south of the Tang main road, connected by a side road. Covering dozens of hectares, it consisted of over 300 huge warehouses, surrounded by two high walls. The depot was under direct military control, with 8,000 soldiers stationed around it—nearly a hundred watchtowers in total, ensuring extremely strict defense. Additionally, there were 2,400 fodder workers, all local civilians with clean backgrounds. They had to change into clothes naked upon entering and leaving the depot to prevent anyone from bringing fire inside.
Currently, the depot had Class B security, with patrols three times a day and night. If upgraded to Class A, there would be continuous patrols day and night, the number of watchtowers doubled, officers below the rank of lieutenant general would not be allowed leave or any contact with the outside world, and the fodder workers would only enter once every three days, with body searches and one-to-one supervision by soldiers while changing clothes.
When Li Qing’an and his party arrived at the depot, Zhao Fengjun, the lieutenant general in charge, stepped forward and knelt to greet them. “Your servant pays respects to the General!”
“General Zhao, rise!”
Li Qing’an smiled and then pointed at Cui Ning, saying, “I’ve invited Governor Cui to inspect the depot today. May I allow him to enter?”

Zhao Fengjun shook his head and said, “Local officials must have the General’s golden command arrow to enter the fodder depot. This is an iron rule set by the General himself. Although it was only orally stated this time, I regretfully cannot comply. Moreover, the General himself is only allowed to be accompanied by twenty personal guards, as stipulated in Article 5, Paragraph 3.”

Li Qingan secretly approved of this. He had asked Cui Ning to come along precisely to test the defenses of the fodder depot. Now satisfied, he turned to Cui Ning with an apologetic expression and said, “Governor Cui, such are the military rules. I’m sorry.”

Cui Ning forced a wry smile. Knowing he had served as Li Qingan’s test, he said, “Since the rules are like this, of course I cannot break them. I’ll wait outside. Please go and inspect as you wish, Your Highness.”

“Very well! Let’s follow the rules.”

Li Qingan then smiled at the twenty personal guards behind him and said, “You twenty, come with me to inspect!”

As he spurred his horse to enter, Zhao Fengjun stopped him. Though hesitant, he still pointed to a row of wooden houses in the distance and said solemnly, “According to the rule set by the General, Article 2, Paragraph 1, anyone entering the fodder depot must undergo a search and change clothes. I’m sorry, but this applies to everyone, including the General himself.”

…

Half a month later, Lieutenant General Zhao Fengjun was promoted to the rank of First-Class Lieutenant General, along with the honorary title of General of Loyalty and Valor, and was rewarded with three thousand strings of coins.

…

Volume 14: The Drums of Yuyang