Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 17 Ta Ge
Zhao Huaian lifted the tent and walked in. He smelled the smell inside the tent and said:
"Old Yue, let's talk somewhere else. I can't stand the smell here."

Xian Yuyue had already prepared a lot of speeches, but when he heard Zhao Huaian say this, he was stunned for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

He couldn't stand it either, the fishy smell mixed with the strong smell of blood, oh, and a smell of urine.

Zhao Huaian took the initiative and took Xian Yu Yue out of the tent again. When they arrived at an open space, they fell silent.

Xian Yuyue looked up, but since most of Zhao Huaian's face was hidden in the darkness, he couldn't see his expression clearly, so he took the initiative to break the silence:

"Mr. Zhao, are you blaming me for killing those Tibetans without authorization?"

Zhao Huaian said calmly with a blank expression:
"You and I destroyed this camp together, so those Tibetans also own half of it. How you deal with your property is your business, but if you kill my half as well, at least tell me."

Listening to the slightly distant words, Xian Yuyue took a deep breath and said:
"Mr. Zhao, I respect you, not only because you are my savior, but also because I see in you the spirit of a hero. You are capable of great things, but precisely because you are destined to do great things, there are certain things you must be prepared for."

Seeing that Zhao Huaian didn't speak, Xian Yuyue continued:

"I know you intend to take these Tibetans in, but they are completely different from the Yi people. The Tibetans we captured are Jiangtou and Gui. These are Tibetan warriors with estates on the plateau. Why would they follow you? And that Tibetan nobleman's identity is even more complicated. He is Ru's nephew."

Xianyu Yue explained that if they were high-ranking nobles among the Tibetans, their status would be similar to that of the Jiedushi in the Tang Dynasty, but higher.

Why did Xian Yuyue interrogate this Tibetan noble? Because it was so strange for these people to appear here.

Tongshan City was indeed very important in the past. Wei Gao built a pass here because it was a hub connecting various places in the western part of Jiannan. It connected to Hanyuan, the seat of Lizhou in the north, Qingxi Pass in the west, Dadu River in the south, and Qiongzhou, Yazhou and other places in the east.

Controlling this place can be said to be directly controlling the Tibetans' route to the south across the Dadu River.

But the problem is that since Wei Gao defeated Tubo, the Tubo people have not moved south for more than 70 years. Although many Tubo people have joined the Nanzhao army in recent years, that was more of a spontaneous move by the tribe rather than the actions of the Tubo nobles.

Knowing that Zhao Huaian didn't understand the situation in Tubo, Xian Yu Yue explained it to him in more detail.

According to Xianyu Yue, although the Tibetans were once powerful, they had actually fallen apart by this time.

Its original territories in the Western Regions and Hexi were now occupied by the Western Region Uighurs and the Guiyi Army respectively, and the headquarters on the plateau was divided due to the succession dispute, the royal family collapsed, the regime collapsed, and local forces rose up and ruled independently.

Coupled with the repeated civil unrest and slave uprisings, Tubo had already been divided into pieces by this time, and no longer had the glory of being the overlord of the plateau.

Therefore, even when Li Deyu was in charge of Jiannan in the future and renovated the fortress, he still did not rebuild Tongshan Pass because it was no longer important.

But now, there was actually a Tibetan noble leading troops stationed at Tongshan Pass. How could Xianyu Yue not be suspicious?

He had previously heard from the old man who had escaped that some Nanzhao people had entered the camp and taken away hundreds of Tibetans. Xianyu Yue had already sensed that something was wrong.

Now he knew more details from this Tibetan noble.

It turned out that this group of Tubo soldiers had indeed been invited by the Nanzhao people, but because they were afraid of the strength of the Tang army, they had only been patrolling in the Yajiang area west of Tongshan Pass.

However, as the Nanzhao people broke through the Dadu River, they successively captured the Qionglai Pass, Shimen Fort, Rongjing, Yazhou, Jidong Pass, Furen Fort, Baizhang, Linxi and other pass cities, and finally reached Qiongzhou.

At this time, tens of thousands of Nanzhao troops were confronting the Tang army across the Baizhu River outside Qiongzhou City, only 200 miles away from Chengdu.

Now the Tibetans could not wait any longer and hurried to Tongshan Pass. After leaving a few people to guard it, the rest went south along the river to make a fortune in the Nanzhao army.

And this is just the vanguard of the Tibetans. If everything goes well, then Da Ru, the powerful noble entrenched in the eastern part of Tibet, will also lead his troops south from Tongshan Pass.

The Tibetan noble who stayed behind in the camp was this man's nephew, so he stayed here to be responsible for both meeting the follow-up troops and guarding the retreat of the troops entering Shu.

Therefore, Xianyu Yue told Zhao Huaian that there was a high possibility that a large number of Tibetans would move south in the future, and Tongshan Pass was not safe. If these Tibetans were left here, there would inevitably be chaos, so it would be better to kill them.

Listening to Xian Yuyue's talk, Zhao Huaian didn't say a word, but just kept twirling his short beard.

Seeing that Zhao Huaian didn't respond, Xian Yuyue bit his lip and said again:

"Your Majesty, Zhao may believe that I harbor hatred for the barbarians and that my actions are brutal. However, your Majesty, do you know that the century-long blood feud between the people of Shu and Nanzhao and Tubo is so deep that even the waters of the three rivers and four seas cannot completely wash it away. In my own family alone, over a hundred people have died at the hands of Tubo and Nanzhao. Do you still think I'm cruel, your Majesty?"

Zhao Huaian sighed and said to Xian Yuyue:

"Old Yue, I just think that you should have discussed it with me before killing them. If you had told me all this, why would I stop you if you wanted to kill them?"

Xian Yuyue smiled immediately when he saw Zhao Huaian relax his temper. He struck while the iron was hot and pleaded:
"Lord Zhao, come with me to Qiongzhou! You are a hero with great ambitions. Now that Shu is in danger, it is time for heroes to show their strength. You can use the treasures and weapons captured from the Tibetan camp to recruit a hundred brave men. If you join the army, you will surely achieve great success. I will also deliver news of the Tibetans to Qiongzhou. You and I will go to Qiongzhou together to relieve the crisis in western Sichuan. What do you think?"

Once again facing Xian Yuyue's invitation, Zhao Huaian thought for a moment and expressed his concern:
"Old Yue, you know me well. These spoils of war are like water without a source. Once they are used up, they will be gone. If I raise a regiment now, I don't have enough personnel or money and food. So you see..."

If we don't ask for it now, when will we ask for it? Zhao Huaian had already figured it out. Under the current circumstances, relying on the Tang army system is the best option, but this is definitely not that easy.

If you want to gain independence, then you will have no money and food replenishment, and no military supply. With Zhao Huaian's ability, he definitely cannot support so many people.

Not to mention raising more money later, he can't even support the people he has now.

Xian Yuyue was silent for a moment, then made a decision. He said to Zhao Huaian:

"Mr. Zhao, we're close friends. Why don't we become sworn brothers? From now on, we'll be sworn brothers, sharing both joy and hardship." Zhao Huaian was stunned. This Old Yue wanted to become his sworn brother? Was he trying to be like Old Liu or Baldy?

Although he felt that sworn brotherhood was not a good sign, Zhao Huaian also understood Xian Yu Yue's subtext, which was that if they were not brothers, he would not dare to invest in himself.

After thinking for a while, Zhao Huaian grabbed Xian Yuyue and shouted to Zhao Liu, Ren Tong and others who were looking over there:
"Sixth Brother, go get some wine. I want to become sworn brothers with Old Yue today!"

When Zhao Huaian and Xian Yuyue were talking, people on both sides were actually watching nervously, fearing that a fight would break out.

Suddenly hearing what Zhao Huaian said, Zhao Liu's face turned strange, but he still shouted:
"There's wine, there's wine. I just found a jar."

As he said that, Zhao Liu ran towards the big tent, took out a jar of wine and ran straight to Zhao Huaian.

Zhao Huaian took the wine, glanced at Lao Liu and complained:

"Sixth Brother, why don't you take two bowls too?"

Seeing that Zhao Liu was about to call him a coward again, Zhao Huaian quickly changed his words:

"Forget it, forget it, a real man always drinks to his heart's content."

As he spoke, Zhao Huaian turned to Xian Yuyue and said:

"Old Yue, today we will swear an oath of blood and share prosperity together."

As he spoke, Zhao Huaian took a sip of wine first, then handed the wine jar to Xian Yuyue.

Xian Yu Yue was also generous. He lifted the wine jar and poured it into his mouth. The overflowing wine wet his clothes and armor, washing away the bloodstains on them.

Zhao Huaian was still smacking his lips, savoring the taste of the wine:
"Hmm, it's a low-alcohol wine, mellow on the palate, with a malty aroma. It must be barley water, and it tastes pretty good."

He wanted to drink more, but he saw Xian Yuyue drinking like water, and he felt distressed:
"These are all grain essences, don't waste them."

As he said this, he snatched the wine jar and took another sip, then he saw Zhao Liu and the others looking at him.

Zhao Huaian reluctantly handed the wine to Lao Liu and pretended to be heroic:
"Share the drink with everyone, don't drink too much."

But Zhao Liu didn't drink it directly. He was a very particular person. How could he have wine without meat?
He first ordered Yang Mao to move the dried meat out of the Tibetan tent, and then asked Ren Tong and several others to light a bonfire, while he found a place to sit and skewer the meat.

Lao Liu's wisdom won everyone's cheers. Poor thing, this was their first time making a fire and cooking.

Along the way, they drank cold water, chewed raw rice, and ate dried meat. Are they living like human beings?

So everyone started to take action.

After Ren Tong lit the bonfire, Song Yuan went to fetch firewood, and Yang Mao moved the meat, he took Sun Tai and Zhao Hu to the camp to find more barley wine.

Wang Li also temporarily got rid of the sadness of losing his brother and went to help Lao Liu with two other Yi people.

Zhao Huaian asked Lao Mo to call Niu Li and the other Tang slaves and ask them to join the bonfire party.

After Niu Li and the others came out, they were at a loss as to what to do. They had to follow Lao Mo's arrangement and help pile the bodies of the Tibetans in a tent.

Everyone was busy, and as the fireworks rose little by little, the warmth dispelled the coldness in the camp.

Zhao Huaian took Xian Yuyue and sat around the campfire with everyone else. He raised the wine jar and toasted Xian Yuyue:
"Brother, please."

Xian Yuyue also held up the wine jar and laughed:
"Second brother, please!"

Zhao Huaian smacked his lips, thinking that the name "Second Brother" was really unpleasant, but who asked them to swap ages? He was twenty and Lao Yue was twenty-four.

Okay, let’s just call him the second brother!
Then he shouted to everyone:
"Eat meat!"

After saying that, he quickly grabbed the meat that Zhao Liu had roasted and stuffed it into his mouth.

Um! So delicious!

Just like that, with Zhao Liu cursing, everyone sat around the campfire, drinking wine and eating meat.

In the mood, Ren Tong was the first to dance, followed by Song Yuan. He took the initiative to pull Zhao Huaian up and danced with him while the latter was confused.

Zhao Huaian was also very happy, but he couldn't dance!
At this time, the social expert Xian Yuyue came on stage. He put one hand in front and the other hand behind, and stomped his feet on the ground, singing and dancing to the beat of Ren Tong and Song Yuan. His steps were rich, sometimes light tapping, sometimes steady stomping.

Zhao Huaian laughed when he saw it. Isn’t this the duck dance? He can do it too!
Then he jumped in and, together with Xian Yu Yue, waved his arms, swung his arms, and did duck steps, making everyone laugh.

After that, Lao Liu and the others also jumped down. Like Zhao Huaian, they also started to walk in duck steps and sing loudly.

Under the moonlight, the wine isn't as intoxicating, the meat isn't as fragrant, and even the dance steps are boring, but this is the ultimate happiness for men!
This happiness will last until dawn!

(End of this chapter)