Chapter 49: Han Craftsmen (II)

A fierce anger flared in Ashina Luoji’s chest. The Turkic man before him was truly outrageous!
You may insult me, but not my people!
As a Turk, as a descendant of the divine wolves, how could he bow to a Turkic bastard?
“What, refuse? If you refuse, get lost! I don’t have time to waste on you!”
The Turkic herdsman mocked Ashina Luoji, waving his whip at his face.
“Move aside!”
A sharp shout came from behind. Before Ashina Luoji could react, he was pushed to the ground. The herdsman’s whip was cut in two by a black sword gleaming with a cold light.
“Who are you?”
The herdsman stared in shock at the broken whip in his hand, then at the man before him. This man wore a moon-white robe typical of the Arabs, yet he showed not the slightest trace of Arab characteristics. Moreover, the strange black sword he held was certainly not an Arab scimitar but more like a Tang sword!
Could he be a Tang man?
Li Kuo’s expression remained calm as he spoke in Turkic, “By the Eternal Heaven, this is my friend. What did he do to offend you?”
Though the young man’s tone was gentle, the herdsman was still intimidated by his powerful aura. Yet he couldn’t show any weakness and instead puffed out his chest, “These Tang slaves were mine first. This guy just insisted on taking them. How can such things be allowed in the world?”
His words were bold, but his voice trembled slightly—certainly not enough to make Li Kuo back down.
“So, it’s just such a trivial matter?”
Li Kuo smiled and said, “My brother indeed acted improperly in this matter, but you also did something wrong. How about this? Let’s have a fight. If I win, these Tang slaves will be mine. If you win, I’ll never mention this again!”
“This…”
The herdsman hesitated. Judging from his earlier move, this man was skilled and certainly not just a merchant. But if not a merchant, then what?
A swordsman? A noble’s bodyguard? Or a royal attendant?
With his own skills, he had no chance of winning in a fight. But giving up so easily also left him unwilling.
“Why should you set the rules? There’s always a sense of order—since I arrived first, I should take these Tang slaves!”

The Turkic chieftain finally caught the hesitation in the boy’s words. He raised his head and said, “If you truly seek my help sincerely, add three hundred silver coins per person, and I won’t make things difficult for you!”
Li Kuo lowered his gaze, carefully weighing the pros and cons of his actions. If he forced his way, those dozen or so followers of the Turkic chieftain surely couldn’t match his hundreds of soldiers. But if a conflict arose, his identity would be exposed. Although the sentries ahead had been withdrawn, who knew if some enemy might suddenly appear somewhere in the distance?
“Alright, I agree!”
Li Kuo extended his right hand to the Turkic chieftain with a slight smile.
The most important thing now was to get these Tang people away from here; a few silver coins weren’t worth worrying about.
“Uh… you really want to pay more?”
The Turkic chieftain nervously tapped his lips, not knowing how to respond. He had thought the boy wouldn’t waste so much silver for just a few slaves, but it turned out the boy wasn’t at all reluctant to spend it.
“Of course. One thousand three hundred coins per person—I’ll buy them all.”
Li Kuo calmly spread his hands and nodded.
“Deal!”
The Turkic chieftain raised his eyebrows and slapped Li Kuo’s hand firmly. …
“Brother Kuo, are they really Tang people?”
Zhang Yanji could hardly believe his eyes. These slaves had sallow faces and withered hair—how could they possibly resemble the valiant people of the Great Tang?
Even if they hadn’t eaten properly for a long time, their eyes shouldn’t have been so dull and fearful. They were different from those survivors by the river mouth, who had grown up in Tubo and had no idea what the Great Tang in the East was like, so they naturally didn’t possess that sense of pride. But these were craftsmen dispatched from Guanlong to Anxi. Even if they were temporarily confused, would they really be content to remain slaves for life?
“Stop talking nonsense!”
Li Kuo glared at Zhang Yanji and said, “They’re just craftsmen making a living through their skills. How can they have the right to decide their own fate?”
“I really don’t understand why you’re bringing back such good-for-nothing people. Do you expect them to forge weapons for you?”
Zhang Xiaolangjun pinched his horse’s flanks and muttered under his breath.
The Tang army in Anxi had no shortage of weapons and armor. Due to the sparsely populated region, almost every soldier was equipped with two swords and a long spear, and even officers above the rank of xiaowei had eight-foot-long lances.
Therefore, the Shule army didn’t need to worry about a lack of weapons. If Brother Kuo wanted, he could even get each soldier two swords as part of their military allowance!

“Look at what you’ve achieved! These are our fellow villagers. They have no value at all—can Kuo just abandon them? Since we’ve seen them, we must do everything in our power to save them from hardship. Is it only people like you, a high-ranking official, who can enjoy the warm sunshine of Chang’an in our Great Tang?”
Wang Xiaochun felt deep sympathy for these compatriots from the dusty regions. Their similar plight reminded him of the oppression he had experienced in his childhood. These wealthy young masters cared nothing about the hardships of the common people; all they thought about was profit.
“Ah, who have I offended now!”
Zhang Yanji grunted irritably and waved his whip in frustration.
Those with different ideals cannot work together. He really had nothing to talk about with people like Wang Xiaochun!…
“Were you the old blacksmith in the Anxi Shule army?”
After setting up camp by a river bend, Li Kuo broke off a grass stem and fiddled with it gently.
“Yes, sir. I…”
An old man in his fifties rubbed his hands repeatedly to calm his anxious thoughts. The young man before him was the one who had saved him from dire straits. He had thought this man wanted to buy him to craft rare weapons, which would be a decent outcome. But when he first spoke to him, he used Tang language.
Yet why was he wearing a Persian robe? And why had he come from the west?
As he observed the caravan more closely, the old man grew even more puzzled. Although the goods in the caravan seemed normal, they gave off a strange feeling. He couldn’t quite explain what was strange or why.
Maybe it was their eyes? Their eyes didn’t resemble those of shrewd merchants at all; instead, they held a bright hope and strong confidence. Looking at their physiques, they were all strong and robust, without any sign of weakness. Such spirit, he had only seen in the Tang army in Shule…
Were they Tang soldiers? The old man shuddered at the thought.
How could that be? The region along the river had long been under Persian control. If they were Tang soldiers, how could they return safely from the west? And if they were Tang soldiers, why would they disguise themselves as merchants?
“It’s okay. If you don’t want to talk, you don’t have to. I won’t force you.”
By now, Li Kuo had woven the straight grass stem into a grasshopper and handed it to the old man.
“This is my gift to you as a token of acquaintance.”
The young man’s smile was so gentle that it seemed capable of melting away everything hard and cold in the world.
“Ah!”

The old man didn’t understand Li Kuo’s intentions and was momentarily stunned, then nervously handed over the grass grasshopper.
“Actually, I was only a military craftsman for three years!”
The old man put the grass grasshopper away in his pocket and said, “Later, the Tang army in Anxi lost control of Hezhong, and many of my companions and I were captured and brought here.”
After hesitating for a while, he still told Li Kuo the truth. It was clear that this young man truly wanted to help him, so he had no reason to be wary of him anymore.
Although Li Kuo was very curious about the details of what had happened back then, out of respect for the old man, he did not press further.
“Are those military craftsmen still in Hezhong now?”
Li Kuo asked a rather somber question in a deep voice.
Though he knew that after more than twenty years, it was unlikely all those craftsmen were still alive, he tried to hold onto a glimmer of hope.
“Most of them… most were bought by the local city lords as household craftsmen. It’s considered a fairly good outcome. Some were sold to the lands to the west, even to the Great Tang or the Fulin Kingdom.”
The old man paused and smiled bitterly. “The rest are useless old bones like us—no one wants us, so we can only be sold as slaves. If it weren’t for meeting you, sir…”
“Stop calling me ‘sir.’ I am Li Kuo, the new commander of the Shule army. Welcome home.”
Li Kuo placed a finger to his lips and spoke slowly.
“Ah!”
The old man was greatly surprised. The person before him was actually the new commander of the Shule army? But he was only seventeen or eighteen years old! Since when had the Tang Dynasty had someone of that age rise to the rank of a fourth-rank general?
“General… sir, we’ve already been discharged from the army. If we join the military camp again, I’m afraid…”
Though the old man spoke very tactfully, how could Li Kuo not understand the implication?
They didn’t want to return to the military craftsman unit! They were already disappointed in life!
Where did this disappointment come from? Were they disappointed in the Tang army in Anxi or in the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty?