Chapter 31: Rise and Fall (9)

Ever since Li Kuo pretended to be a fortune-teller and analyzed Gao Dezhong’s fate, the senior steward would frequently visit Chongye Fang to report to the young man on the developments involving those strangers, hoping he could discern the secrets of fate and point him in the right direction. For some reason, whenever the young man used his fingers to calculate, he could accurately describe all the major events happening in the Gao family—ranging from the second young master marrying a beautiful woman as a concubine to the chef being beaten to death by his master for buying dead fish due to embezzlement. He described everything in great detail, as if these events had taken place right before his eyes.

This only strengthened the senior steward’s belief that the young man was indeed the direct disciple of Taoist master Xuan Gan, a celestial being sent to save him from dire straits. Matters related to ghosts and spirits exist only if one believes in them. Since the senior steward was now convinced of the young man’s identity, he was willing to share everything without reservation. Not to mention revealing the identities and activities of those foreigners, even if the young man asked him to disclose which wife his master spent the night with, the senior steward would undoubtedly tell him everything.

After some probing, Li Kuo had largely figured out the activities of those foreigners. Though he couldn’t be certain they were spies sent by Tubo to Chang’an, it was clear that Gao Xiuyan treated them with great respect, as evidenced by the luxury of the inn where they stayed. After using some prophecies to pacify the senior steward, Li Kuo rushed to the Yang family’s residence to discuss further strategies with Lady Guo.

In Lady Guo’s view, without absolute certainty, it was best not to provoke them and force Gao Xiuyan to resort to extreme measures. After all, the Battle of Hehuang had already ended, and it was quite normal for ordinary Tubo people to live in Chang’an. Gao Xiuyan’s success in his career, rising to the positions of General of the Jinwu Guard and Deputy Governor of Longyou, relied on far more than just a little network of connections. When dealing with such a seasoned politician, it was better not to act at all—or if one did, to strike decisively and kill him outright!

Moreover, Gao Xiuyan was a trusted right-hand man of the cunning Li Linfu. Without sufficient evidence proving his collusion with Tubo, and given Li Linfu’s influence in the court, the matter might end up unresolved after some maneuvering.

Therefore, Lady Guo decided to take a two-pronged approach. On one hand, the young man would continue to use the senior steward as a source to extract as much useful information as possible. On the other hand, she would use the Yang family’s intelligence network in Chang’an to investigate the true backgrounds of those foreigners in the East Market, providing evidence to support the claim that Gao Xiuyan was in league with Tubo.

Once he made up his mind, his mood improved greatly, and even his daily life became more comfortable. Just as Lady Guo had predicted, the emperor said nothing about the appointment of officials to various border towns, and the Ministry of War pretended to be unaware and played the role of a good-natured bystander. It seemed likely that these border generals would remain in Chang’an through New Year’s Eve. Li Kuo was naturally delighted by this; he needed ample time to gather evidence to bring Gao Xiuyan down, and he also wanted to spend more time with his mother and fulfill his filial duties properly.

Apart from going to Chongye Fang every few days to consult an oracle to appease the high-ranking official, Li Kuo spent most of his time at home. Since Lady Li suffered from a weak constitution, the young man personally prepared tonics according to the prescription and cooked them for his mother to take. When the old lady had free time, she would miss her late husband, so Li Kuo would bring a stool and chat with her. Knowing he would likely have to lead troops abroad for most of the time, he tried to spend as much time as possible with his mother.

Every night, the young man would light an oil lamp and sit alone at his desk studying military strategies. The battles in Hehuang left a deep impression on him. Although he had managed to turn danger into safety time and again through clever tactics, the longer the wars lasted, the more powerless he felt. The little military books he had read at the Imperial Academy were utterly useless on the battlefield, and the experience his third brother had taught him often failed in practice. As the saying goes, learning is endless, and it was only now that the young man truly understood its meaning.

He opened the “Military Strategies of Lord Wei” left by his grandfather and studied it word by word, practicing each tactic and strategy. He learned troop deployment and formation from Lord Wei, and command and leadership from the war god of the Tang Dynasty. War is a matter of deception, and the young man gradually became more stern and mature, yet he retained a hint of kindness deep in his heart.

Cavalry launching flanking attacks, heavily armored infantry advancing in formation, night raids on granaries, besieging cities to cut off reinforcements, rolling back the curtain-like defenses… Whenever he came across a good strategy, he would instinctively relate it to the actual battles he had experienced in search of breakthroughs. If discussing military strategies without having fought in battles is mere theory, then for those who have led troops, studying military strategies brings a sudden clarity and a new understanding of battle tactics.

Previously, Li Kuo was just a battalion commander who could rely more on the overall plans of his superior, but now he was the commander of an entire army, responsible for the overall defense strategy. Only by being a general can one understand the hardships of command. As the ancients said, it’s easy to find thousands of soldiers but hard to find a good general. Li Kuo had not understood this before, but now he finally grasped it. An excellent general requires not just temporary bravery, but also a sense of responsibility, magnanimity, judgment, and decisiveness.

Within a month, by rereading The Art of War by Wei Gong, Li Kuo gained many new insights and understandings, which would be further strengthened and refined as he faced future battles.
That night, as usual, the young man finished reading the military treatise and began pacing around his study. After the Tubo were defeated, he reported to the imperial court as promised, hoping that the emperor would confer the title of Khan of Yanxi on Chief Suta. Although, for various reasons, the emperor did not grant this title, he did appoint Suta as the governor of Jiuqu, effectively recognizing the Bai Lang tribe’s rule over that region. In fact, after capturing Shibao City, the Tang Dynasty did not advance further to reclaim lost territories but instead reached an agreement with the Tubo, allowing the Bai Lang tribe to temporarily manage those fertile pastures.
At first, Li Kuo thought this was a trick by the emperor to deceive the Tubo, but it seemed to be a necessary measure. With rice prices soaring in the capital, the Khitans attacking from the east, and the Arabs stirring up trouble in the west, the Tang Dynasty, no matter how wealthy and powerful, could not sustain multiple fronts of war. Thus, appointing Chief Suta as governor of Jiuqu was merely a way to show the Tang Dynasty’s stance—supporting another tribe to counter the powerful Tubo.
Yet between nations, there are no eternal friends, only eternal interests. If the Bai Lang tribe grew strong and became another Tubo, war would likely be inevitable.
When that day came, how would the young man face Tubo, Aina, and those fellow tribesmen he had shared life and death with?
Under the bright moon, under the same night sky, he wondered if Aina was safe on the grasslands.
The young man could not forget that beautiful foreign woman, nor the tears in her eyes on the night they parted.
“I, Aina, will only marry a great hero like you in this life! I’ll wait for you—always waiting for you to return…”
The girl smiled faintly and wiped away the tears from her eyes. “Next time you return, shoot me an eagle as a marriage gift!”
That night, she leaped onto her horse and rode off into the depths of the grasslands, just like the first stirrings of life in the wilderness. Whether he admitted it or not, that love affair witnessed by the Eternal Heaven had always existed, right there.