My back lands on something rugged. When I try to reach behind me, my hands hit something strange instead of my back. At the same time, a foul and rotten smell starts to waft into my nose, kicking my brain into overdrive and startling me awake at last.
In front of me is a pair of wide eyes, dried blood evident on top of the head, face angry and frankly quite terrifying. Shocked, I jerk upright and try to stand up but the uneven ground makes me fall down again. I place my palms down as support, but the sound of something cracking makes me look down. It seems I have just crushed someone’s leg by sitting on it. My palms are wet with dark red blood. Dear god, where am I? I look around and my stomach lurches at the sight.
I’ve landed in a pit full of corpses, about over 10-metre wide. I seem to be the only living thing here. The corpses are layered on top of each other in a big heap. The smell of decay and rot fills the air. I vomit onto the side until the only thing that comes up is dry heaves. Pinching my nose, I look around in horror. Judging by the clothes and the faces of these limb-less, even head-less, corpses, I figure that they must be soldiers from Kucha and nomads from Central Asia. If the time and place we input into the time machine were correct, then the scene before me must be the aftermath of the battle between Bai Chun* and Lu Guang.
* Kuchan King, Rajiva’s uncle
It’s not that I haven’t seen dead bodies before. I’ve seen mummies in Egyptian museums, skeletons in Xinjiang museums, and I have even followed archaeologists as they dug up mausoleums. That is not counting the headless corpses I’ve seen in the caves of the ancient Guge Kingdom of Western Tibet [10th century CE], because high above the plains, the air is thin, so even after over 600 years of history, the corpses still haven’t finished decomposing, making the smell unbearably foul. Or the pit of thousand corpses from the Nanjing Massacre [Dec 13, 1937 – Jan 1938], whose Memorial Hall is built right near it, and when you enter, you are surrounded by countless white skeletal remains, a scene so horrifying that you cannot help but close your eyes, afraid to look.
I am not a person with a weak heart, or else I would not have chosen to major in history. But I have never been as horrified as I am now, seeing so much death around me, nose full of the rotten smell of bodies that have just begun to decompose. Not to mention the fact that I am currently in a place where there is no room to even place one’s foot in. I look up and see that the ground surface is too far above my height.
Inside my backpack, I have a roll of rope with a hook and some other items similarly suited for rock-climbing. Before [this time jump], the researchers had invited some fitness trainers and Special Forces soldiers to teach me how to survive in this era where people’s lives are treated as nothing more than garbage. Wearing brightly-coloured clothes, I’ve practiced how to climb rock walls, how to jump over pits and all kinds of techniques for women’s self-defence. Even though my training time was short and my level is that of an amateur, I still managed to pick up some useful techniques. Except, the only problem is, my arms and legs and trembling very hard right now; I have no strength to even get the climbing equipment out of my bag. I’d have to close my eyes real tight so I don’t have to look at the bloody severed limbs around me, and pinch my nose hard so I stop smelling this most horrifying stench. But in doing so, my brain just becomes even number, so much so that I can’t even bring myself to zip open my backpack. Overwhelmed, I feel like crying at my uselessness.
Another body gets thrown down and almost flattens me in the process. Wait. That means there are people at the top! Like a drowning person who has just found a floating log, without thinking, I begin to scream for help. Heads pop in to gaze down into the pit, looking very afraid. Perhaps they think I’m a dead corpse returning to life. I quickly explain that I’m alive and had fallen down here because of my careless footing. After a long while of me shouting, finally I see a rope being dropped down.
What I saw in the pit still haunts me even after I reach the surface, leaving me standing around dazedly. After a while, I manage to pull myself together, only to realize that my situation above ground is actually not any better. The people who pulled me up seem to be Lu Guang’s soldiers who were tasked with cleaning up the battleground, burying the dead and such, which means they are weak, old or sick. Seeing myself being surrounded by these not-so-friendly soldiers, I cannot help but lament over my ‘out of the frying pan, into the fire’ fate.
I still have yet to recover from the horrifying experience earlier, and now I have to quickly come up with a way to deal with this situation at hand. In wars, women are often treated as prizes. These sickly soldiers, who normally would never be given rewards like women or gold like the front-line soldiers, must see me as some god-given gift that fell from the sky. I do have the stun gun on me, but at this close distance and with this many people, I don’t know how many I can take down.
The faces in front of me are all Han, so I try to muster up the brightest smile, clasp my hands together in a respectful gesture and speak to them in Han:
“Big brothers, I am the new concubine of Duan Ye, a subordinate of General Du Jin. I went out today to find some medicinal herbs but on my way back, I fell into this pit due to carelessness, and ended up being an obstruction to your work, I sincerely apologize.”
Amongst all the Han soldiers that followed Lu Guang to conquer the Western Regions, I only know of Du Jin and Duan Ye. Du Jin is one of Lu Guang’s best generals, whose greatest achievement was helping Lu Guang pacify the Hexi Corridor*. Later on, Du Jin was promoted to Assistant Defense General [辅国将军, fu guo jiangjun], and then Administrator [太守, taishou] of Wuwei (Gansu). But with the rise of ranks came the rise of his feathers [arrogance], Du Jin walked around as if he was equal to Lu Guang, so Lu Guang had to come up with a reason to kill him in order to preserve his authority.
*Hexi Corridor or Gansu Corridor, “refers to the historical route in Gansu province of China. As part of the Northern Silk Road running northwest from the bank of the Yellow River, it was the most important route from North China to the Tarim Basin and Central Asia for traders and the military” (Source: Wiki).
As for Duan Ye, before he founded Northern Liang [state] during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, he was only a low-ranked officer under Du Jin during Lu Guang’s campaign to conquer Kucha. Later on, Duan Ye was promoted to Administrator of the Jiankang Commandery (now Zhangye, Gansu). In the year 397 CE, Juqu Nancheng, the Xiongnu who overturned Lu Guang’s Later Liang, made Duan Ye the Duke of Jiankang in order to win over the people. This was how the Han person who was known to be “a Confucian scholar, with no power in his hands”, Duan Ye, suddenly became the first king of Northern Liang in the Sixteen Kingdoms period.
Lu Guang’s army is made of people of various ethnicities. Lu Guang himself is of Di background, the same as Fu Jian [founding emperor of Former Qin]. My face is Han Chinese, so I of course had to find a Han to link myself to in order to deceive this group of soldiers in front of me. I chose Duan Ye and not Du Jin because the latter’s rank is too high, so if I said I am a concubine of Du Jin, it would definitely raise suspicions. Duan Ye at this time should be around twenty years old, a mere low-ranked scholar officer under Du Jin, so there’s less chance of people knowing who his wives and concubines are. Soldiers on military campaigns aren’t generally allowed to bring their family along, but because Lu Guang planned on staying in Kucha for an extended period of time, he had allowed his men to pick up women on the way.
The people in front of me naturally become annoyed after hearing my introduction, knowing that they cannot mess with me lest they wanted to offend the higher-ups. I let out a sigh of relief and am about to turn around to leave, but one of the group leaders pulls me back, citing that he wants to accompany me back to Duan Ye’s side [as protection]. He must want to kiss up to Duan Ye! Unable to refuse without a good reason, and considering that it’d be hard for me to get inside the city by myself anyway, I end up agreeing to go with him.
The road to the city is full of battle carnage. There are corpses of people and horses yet to be cleaned up, which gives of an unbearable stench. Various siege engines and rocks used to storm the walls have been left behind. Swords of all kinds lie scattered everywhere, most of which are blackened with dried up blood. The walls of Kucha’s fort are full of holes, and the watchtowers are now just broken shells.
Since I did not get to witness the scene of the battle, I can only conjure up images from what was written down in the history books:
Lu Guang’s army of 70,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry soldiers, together with the soldiers from Shanshan and Cheshi [two states in Western Regions], totaled about 100,000 in number. Bai Chun used up the state treasury to ask for help from the Kuai Hu, who offered 200,000 soldiers in return, and together with the aide from Wensu, Shantou, Bai Chun’s army totaled over 700,000.
Despite such a disparity in numbers, Lu Guang still managed to bring about a total victory, worthy of his title as Fu Jian’s most accomplished general. The Book of Jin wrote that before the war, all of Lu Guang’s officers had thought that considering how outnumbered they are, they ought to make camps, spread out their forces and plan long-term strategies. But Lu Guang had disagreed, saying that because they are outnumbered, making camps and spreading out their forces is not a good strategy.
Lu Guang had ordered soldiers to set up camps south of Kucha’s fort, one battalion for every five [Chinese] miles, and in between are deep ditches and high bases. As a diversionary tactic, wooden figures were made and planted into the ground, adorned by helmets and armors with flags raised, meant to fool the Kuchan people behind the fort into thinking they are real soldiers. Meanwhile, a unit was to launch a surprise attack against the Kuai Hu soldiers to the south of the city. However, the Kuai Hu cavalry soldiers in the front were heavily armoured and clad with iron shields, making it hard for Lu Guang’s arrows to get past. In addition, the Kuai Hu cavalry at the back were agile riders who use leather whips to knock enemies off their horses, incredibly accurate and efficient. So in the early days of the war, Lu Guang was at a disadvantage.
Not long after, Lu Guang began to see that though the Kuai Hu’s cavalry was an elite force, the larger part of their army was made up of herdsmen who were forced to enlist. So he came up with the idea of cutting off the enemies’ horse legs as an offense tactic. The cavalry became useless as soon as they fell down from their horses, and their heavy armours only made it harder for them to move on their feet. News of how Lu Guang’s army had slaughtered more than 10,000 of Kuai Hu soldiers travelled into the city, making Bai Chun trembled with fear. The Kuchan king quickly gathered up all of his treasures and abandoned the city to escape on his own. Upon hearing that Kucha had been defeated, the rulers of over thirty kingdoms in the Western Regions immediately rushed forward to beg for mercy.
At the time of his defeat, Bai Chun was almost sixty years of age. Where he had run off to was not written down in the history records. Lu Guang took over and placed Bai Chun’s youngest brother, Bai Zhen, onto the throne.
Before the war, Kucha was known as the most prosperous kingdom in the Western Regions, a fact that led to the dissatisfaction of many neighbouring kingdoms. So upon receiving the summons to go to Chang’an to make their tributes, the king of Shanshan, the king of Cheshi and Bai Zhen [on behalf of Bai Chun] had requested for a private meeting with Fu Jian, where they asked the Emperor to consider the idea of an “expedition” to the Western Regions, even going so far as to offer themselves up as “guides”. The fact that Lu Guang’s army could safely make it through the three hundred miles of desert after desert in the Western Regions was largely due to these so-called guides, of which Bai Zhen was a part of, because this youngest brother had been harbouring the desire to become king for a while.
As I immerse myself in recalling these historical records, time passes by quickly, and before I know it, we are already at the city gates. The once prosperous city of Kucha is now nothing but a husk of its former glory. Very few people can be seen walking the streets, and the doors of most houses are tightly shut. Red-faced soldiers of Lu Guang are wandering around in a drunken, ungainly manner, forcibly entering people’s houses as they please, resulting in lots of shouting and crying.
After entering the city, seeing how grand Bai Chun’s palace was, Lu Guang had ordered Duan Ye to write a fu* titled “Kuchan Palace”, whose content was full of mockery and ridicule. The Kuchan people are rich in life and even richer in health. They all know how to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, and wine-drinking is one of them. Many houses have about a thousand barrels of wine each, and after a decade or so, the aroma of wine permeates every space of the courtyard. Lu Guang, wanting to reward his men for earning him the victory, had allowed them to do whatever and to take as much [wine] as they desired. As a result, the number of men who succumbed to alcohol, sometimes ending in death, rose considerably.
* Fu is a form of Chinese rhymed prose or rhapsody prominent during the Han Dynasty/
“Duan-canjun!”
*canjun or 参軍 is the person’s title, roughly a lower-ranked administrator
My thoughts are interrupted by the shout of the Han person I’ve been following, who is bowing in respect at some scholarly person ahead. The surname Duan…can this be Duan Ye?
If I don’t find ways to escape now, I will get found out. But the nearest alley is almost 20m away. If I try to leave in such an open space, I would get captured before I can even take any steps. Even as I strain myself trying to find a way to escape, a sliver of curiosity still rises in me—a part of me wants to see for myself this person who will one day become the first king of Nothern Liang. No one ever tells you how dangerous having history as your major can be, and how in moments like this, your curiosity can easily be the cause of your death ah.
Duan Ye looks to be around twenty years old, roughly 1m75 [5’9”] in height, square-faced, and carries himself in a dignified manner. He’s currently holding some paper and brushes while talking to a soldier. Upon hearing the shout of the Han person, he quickly turns around to return the greeting.
“Duan-canjun, how great it is that you’re here. I’ve been looking for you. It’s not safe for a lady to venture out of the city to find medicine, how could you have willingly let your newly-wedded wife out of your sights?”
Duan Ye is of course very surprised at this turn of events, glances at me and about to open his mouth to interject, but I pretend to be joyous at our reunion and immediately rush forward, then speak to him in a low voice: “I carry the words of a great sage who can sees through the fates. If you save me, I will definitely return the favour.”
The history books wrote that Duan Ye was someone who believed in superstitions and followed Buddhism. I can only pray that my move was a correct one.
He looks at me full of wariness, seemingly doubtful that I am as I claimed. But of course. I look too young, and my body is smelly from landing in that pit earlier, so there’s probably not an ounce of mystic aura in sight. Anxious, I quietly ask:
“The night before he broke through the walls of Kucha, General Lu had dreamed about a golden elephant flying out of the city, correct?”
This was an account written in the Book of Jin. Thanks to this dream, Lu Guang’s confidence rose even more, believing that it was a sign that “the Buddha has left, meaning the Hu will perish”. Because the Book of Jin is full of fantastical tales about strange powers, many historians later on will often disregard it as a true historical record. But I am placing a bet here. I bet that in the face of being greatly outnumbered by their enemies, Lu Guang had cooked up that strange dream to help bolster the spirits of his men. If I lose this bet, there will be no escape for me.
Duan Ye looks up at me in surprise, and stays contemplative for a while, neither denying nor agreeing with me. Nevertheless, he thanks the Han soldier and bids goodbye to the soldier he was talking to earlier, and then leads me away amidst their teasing.
As I walk with Duan Ye, I cannot help but feel anxious. That said, according to the historical accounts, Duan Ye is not a hot-tempered and cruel person like Lu Guang. If the situation turns bad, I should still be able to handle him.
Duan Ye brings me to a commoner’s house. Inside are numerous people who seem to be scholars, and they all greet Duan Ye upon his arrival. Lu Guang’s people must have taken over this house to use it as a meeting place for scholar-officials.
Once we are alone in a room, I clasp my hands in front of Duan Ye:
“In my haste, I had posed myself as a person of Duan-canjun in order to preserve my life, please forgive my impertinence.”
“Young lady, no need to apologize, for I understand the difficulty of your situation.”
His gentle and polite tone helps increase my opinion of him.
“The great sage that I had spoken of earlier is in fact the grand master well-known in the Western Regions, Kumarajiva. Though I am a person of little significance, I had the good grace to meet the master and learned a great many things from him. I had travelled to Kucha in the hopes that I could meet with the master once more and advanced my fortune-telling skills further.”
I do not know what Rajiva is doing right now, so I can only scour for his information by appealing to Duan Ye’s favourite pastime.
“The name Kumarajiva is nothing but thunder to one’s ear. Having heard of his ability to see through the fates and his knowledge of yin yang and the five elements, I have long been an admirer of his.”
“Oh? Has Duan-canjun not met the grand master before? I have heard that the master is currently staying with General Lu, so canjun should have been able to speak with the master regularly.”
I hold my breath, unable to look at his reaction.
He speaks with some frustration: “It is my great desire to seek his audience, but the master is being held captive, so I am not able to see him.”
“The master and I have history, if canjun can help me see him, I will definitely ask the master to read your fortune.”
“I am afraid it is not possible,” he speaks with emotion, but his tone is hesitant, “Word is, the General is holding the master inside the palace. A person of low rank such as I can never meet him.”
Disappointment floods me. I only know that Rajiva is being held captive in the palace, but no idea on whether Lu Guang has forced him to break his precepts yet. Not only is Duan Ye just a mere low-ranked officer, he is also not a confidant of Di descent to Lu Guang, so there is not much chance of him having access to any vital information.
I start asking Duan Ye other questions and learn that the siege happened five days ago, and on the third day since, Bai Zhen was made the king of Kucha.
After some thinking, I decide to ask Duan Ye for a different favour:
“Duan-canjun, is it possible for you to send someone to accompany me to find Pusyseda, the younger broker of Master Kumarajiva?”
To travel alone in this turbulent time is to ask for trouble. My stun gun is hardly sufficient against those lawless soldiers out there.
Afraid that Duan Ye might refuse, I quickly lower my voice and speak to him in what I hoped is a cryptic tone:
“From my observances, I can discern that your countenance is not of someone who is a small shrimp in a pond full of crabs, for the golden aura you emit tells me that you have a great future ahead of you.”
“Is this true?”
What a gullible person. His expression has turned secretive. Lowering his voice, he asks:
“When and where will it happen? Young lady, please tell me.”
I quickly set out my condition:
“If you agree to my request, I will tell you.”
Chenwei was a popular practice during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a type of divination that was combined with mystical Confucian philosophy. Wang Meng wanted Fu Jian to kill the Xianbei generals, so he used chenwei to conjure up the prophecy that “in the month of Yiyou, year of Jiashen, fish and sheep will eat people”*. Fu Jian did not listen and continue to favour Murong Chui and his people, but his plans to unify the various ethnic tribes did not come to fruition. Wang Meng’s warning turned out to be extremely accurate. In 384 CE, also known as the year of Jiashen, Former Qin began to disintegrate. Although Fu Jian was killed by Yao Chang of Qiang descent, the main reason that caused the fall of Former Qin was the rebellion of the Xianbei, who wanted to reunify their state.
* [Lương Hiền’s T/N: fish and sheep or yu yang here refers to the Xianbei people.]
The fact that Duan Ye is agreeing to helping me find Pusysdeva only goes to show how powerful divination is.
My back lands on something rugged. When I try to reach behind me, my hands hit something strange instead of my back. At the same time, a foul and rotten smell starts to waft into my nose, kicking my brain into overdrive and startling me awake at last.
In front of me is a pair of wide eyes, dried blood evident on top of the head, face angry and frankly quite terrifying. Shocked, I jerk upright and try to stand up but the uneven ground makes me fall down again. I place my palms down as support, but the sound of something cracking makes me look down. It seems I have just crushed someone’s leg by sitting on it. My palms are wet with dark red blood. Dear god, where am I? I look around and my stomach lurches at the sight.
I’ve landed in a pit full of corpses, about over 10-metre wide. I seem to be the only living thing here. The corpses are layered on top of each other in a big heap. The smell of decay and rot fills the air. I vomit onto the side until the only thing that comes up is dry heaves. Pinching my nose, I look around in horror. Judging by the clothes and the faces of these limb-less, even head-less, corpses, I figure that they must be soldiers from Kucha and nomads from Central Asia. If the time and place we input into the time machine were correct, then the scene before me must be the aftermath of the battle between Bai Chun* and Lu Guang.
* Kuchan King, Rajiva’s uncle
It’s not that I haven’t seen dead bodies before. I’ve seen mummies in Egyptian museums, skeletons in Xinjiang museums, and I have even followed archaeologists as they dug up mausoleums. That is not counting the headless corpses I’ve seen in the caves of the ancient Guge Kingdom of Western Tibet [10th century CE], because high above the plains, the air is thin, so even after over 600 years of history, the corpses still haven’t finished decomposing, making the smell unbearably foul. Or the pit of thousand corpses from the Nanjing Massacre [Dec 13, 1937 – Jan 1938], whose Memorial Hall is built right near it, and when you enter, you are surrounded by countless white skeletal remains, a scene so horrifying that you cannot help but close your eyes, afraid to look.
I am not a person with a weak heart, or else I would not have chosen to major in history. But I have never been as horrified as I am now, seeing so much death around me, nose full of the rotten smell of bodies that have just begun to decompose. Not to mention the fact that I am currently in a place where there is no room to even place one’s foot in. I look up and see that the ground surface is too far above my height.
Inside my backpack, I have a roll of rope with a hook and some other items similarly suited for rock-climbing. Before [this time jump], the researchers had invited some fitness trainers and Special Forces soldiers to teach me how to survive in this era where people’s lives are treated as nothing more than garbage. Wearing brightly-coloured clothes, I’ve practiced how to climb rock walls, how to jump over pits and all kinds of techniques for women’s self-defence. Even though my training time was short and my level is that of an amateur, I still managed to pick up some useful techniques. Except, the only problem is, my arms and legs and trembling very hard right now; I have no strength to even get the climbing equipment out of my bag. I’d have to close my eyes real tight so I don’t have to look at the bloody severed limbs around me, and pinch my nose hard so I stop smelling this most horrifying stench. But in doing so, my brain just becomes even number, so much so that I can’t even bring myself to zip open my backpack. Overwhelmed, I feel like crying at my uselessness.
Another body gets thrown down and almost flattens me in the process. Wait. That means there are people at the top! Like a drowning person who has just found a floating log, without thinking, I begin to scream for help. Heads pop in to gaze down into the pit, looking very afraid. Perhaps they think I’m a dead corpse returning to life. I quickly explain that I’m alive and had fallen down here because of my careless footing. After a long while of me shouting, finally I see a rope being dropped down.
What I saw in the pit still haunts me even after I reach the surface, leaving me standing around dazedly. After a while, I manage to pull myself together, only to realize that my situation above ground is actually not any better. The people who pulled me up seem to be Lu Guang’s soldiers who were tasked with cleaning up the battleground, burying the dead and such, which means they are weak, old or sick. Seeing myself being surrounded by these not-so-friendly soldiers, I cannot help but lament over my ‘out of the frying pan, into the fire’ fate.
I still have yet to recover from the horrifying experience earlier, and now I have to quickly come up with a way to deal with this situation at hand. In wars, women are often treated as prizes. These sickly soldiers, who normally would never be given rewards like women or gold like the front-line soldiers, must see me as some god-given gift that fell from the sky. I do have the stun gun on me, but at this close distance and with this many people, I don’t know how many I can take down.
The faces in front of me are all Han, so I try to muster up the brightest smile, clasp my hands together in a respectful gesture and speak to them in Han:
“Big brothers, I am the new concubine of Duan Ye, a subordinate of General Du Jin. I went out today to find some medicinal herbs but on my way back, I fell into this pit due to carelessness, and ended up being an obstruction to your work, I sincerely apologize.”
Amongst all the Han soldiers that followed Lu Guang to conquer the Western Regions, I only know of Du Jin and Duan Ye. Du Jin is one of Lu Guang’s best generals, whose greatest achievement was helping Lu Guang pacify the Hexi Corridor*. Later on, Du Jin was promoted to Assistant Defense General [辅国将军, fu guo jiangjun], and then Administrator [太守, taishou] of Wuwei (Gansu). But with the rise of ranks came the rise of his feathers [arrogance], Du Jin walked around as if he was equal to Lu Guang, so Lu Guang had to come up with a reason to kill him in order to preserve his authority.
*Hexi Corridor or Gansu Corridor, “refers to the historical route in Gansu province of China. As part of the Northern Silk Road running northwest from the bank of the Yellow River, it was the most important route from North China to the Tarim Basin and Central Asia for traders and the military” (Source: Wiki).
As for Duan Ye, before he founded Northern Liang [state] during the Sixteen Kingdoms period, he was only a low-ranked officer under Du Jin during Lu Guang’s campaign to conquer Kucha. Later on, Duan Ye was promoted to Administrator of the Jiankang Commandery (now Zhangye, Gansu). In the year 397 CE, Juqu Nancheng, the Xiongnu who overturned Lu Guang’s Later Liang, made Duan Ye the Duke of Jiankang in order to win over the people. This was how the Han person who was known to be “a Confucian scholar, with no power in his hands”, Duan Ye, suddenly became the first king of Northern Liang in the Sixteen Kingdoms period.
Lu Guang’s army is made of people of various ethnicities. Lu Guang himself is of Di background, the same as Fu Jian [founding emperor of Former Qin]. My face is Han Chinese, so I of course had to find a Han to link myself to in order to deceive this group of soldiers in front of me. I chose Duan Ye and not Du Jin because the latter’s rank is too high, so if I said I am a concubine of Du Jin, it would definitely raise suspicions. Duan Ye at this time should be around twenty years old, a mere low-ranked scholar officer under Du Jin, so there’s less chance of people knowing who his wives and concubines are. Soldiers on military campaigns aren’t generally allowed to bring their family along, but because Lu Guang planned on staying in Kucha for an extended period of time, he had allowed his men to pick up women on the way.
The people in front of me naturally become annoyed after hearing my introduction, knowing that they cannot mess with me lest they wanted to offend the higher-ups. I let out a sigh of relief and am about to turn around to leave, but one of the group leaders pulls me back, citing that he wants to accompany me back to Duan Ye’s side [as protection]. He must want to kiss up to Duan Ye! Unable to refuse without a good reason, and considering that it’d be hard for me to get inside the city by myself anyway, I end up agreeing to go with him.
The road to the city is full of battle carnage. There are corpses of people and horses yet to be cleaned up, which gives of an unbearable stench. Various siege engines and rocks used to storm the walls have been left behind. Swords of all kinds lie scattered everywhere, most of which are blackened with dried up blood. The walls of Kucha’s fort are full of holes, and the watchtowers are now just broken shells.
Since I did not get to witness the scene of the battle, I can only conjure up images from what was written down in the history books:
Lu Guang’s army of 70,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry soldiers, together with the soldiers from Shanshan and Cheshi [two states in Western Regions], totaled about 100,000 in number. Bai Chun used up the state treasury to ask for help from the Kuai Hu, who offered 200,000 soldiers in return, and together with the aide from Wensu, Shantou, Bai Chun’s army totaled over 700,000.
Despite such a disparity in numbers, Lu Guang still managed to bring about a total victory, worthy of his title as Fu Jian’s most accomplished general. The Book of Jin wrote that before the war, all of Lu Guang’s officers had thought that considering how outnumbered they are, they ought to make camps, spread out their forces and plan long-term strategies. But Lu Guang had disagreed, saying that because they are outnumbered, making camps and spreading out their forces is not a good strategy.
Lu Guang had ordered soldiers to set up camps south of Kucha’s fort, one battalion for every five [Chinese] miles, and in between are deep ditches and high bases. As a diversionary tactic, wooden figures were made and planted into the ground, adorned by helmets and armors with flags raised, meant to fool the Kuchan people behind the fort into thinking they are real soldiers. Meanwhile, a unit was to launch a surprise attack against the Kuai Hu soldiers to the south of the city. However, the Kuai Hu cavalry soldiers in the front were heavily armoured and clad with iron shields, making it hard for Lu Guang’s arrows to get past. In addition, the Kuai Hu cavalry at the back were agile riders who use leather whips to knock enemies off their horses, incredibly accurate and efficient. So in the early days of the war, Lu Guang was at a disadvantage.
Not long after, Lu Guang began to see that though the Kuai Hu’s cavalry was an elite force, the larger part of their army was made up of herdsmen who were forced to enlist. So he came up with the idea of cutting off the enemies’ horse legs as an offense tactic. The cavalry became useless as soon as they fell down from their horses, and their heavy armours only made it harder for them to move on their feet. News of how Lu Guang’s army had slaughtered more than 10,000 of Kuai Hu soldiers travelled into the city, making Bai Chun trembled with fear. The Kuchan king quickly gathered up all of his treasures and abandoned the city to escape on his own. Upon hearing that Kucha had been defeated, the rulers of over thirty kingdoms in the Western Regions immediately rushed forward to beg for mercy.
At the time of his defeat, Bai Chun was almost sixty years of age. Where he had run off to was not written down in the history records. Lu Guang took over and placed Bai Chun’s youngest brother, Bai Zhen, onto the throne.
Before the war, Kucha was known as the most prosperous kingdom in the Western Regions, a fact that led to the dissatisfaction of many neighbouring kingdoms. So upon receiving the summons to go to Chang’an to make their tributes, the king of Shanshan, the king of Cheshi and Bai Zhen [on behalf of Bai Chun] had requested for a private meeting with Fu Jian, where they asked the Emperor to consider the idea of an “expedition” to the Western Regions, even going so far as to offer themselves up as “guides”. The fact that Lu Guang’s army could safely make it through the three hundred miles of desert after desert in the Western Regions was largely due to these so-called guides, of which Bai Zhen was a part of, because this youngest brother had been harbouring the desire to become king for a while.
As I immerse myself in recalling these historical records, time passes by quickly, and before I know it, we are already at the city gates. The once prosperous city of Kucha is now nothing but a husk of its former glory. Very few people can be seen walking the streets, and the doors of most houses are tightly shut. Red-faced soldiers of Lu Guang are wandering around in a drunken, ungainly manner, forcibly entering people’s houses as they please, resulting in lots of shouting and crying.
After entering the city, seeing how grand Bai Chun’s palace was, Lu Guang had ordered Duan Ye to write a fu* titled “Kuchan Palace”, whose content was full of mockery and ridicule. The Kuchan people are rich in life and even richer in health. They all know how to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, and wine-drinking is one of them. Many houses have about a thousand barrels of wine each, and after a decade or so, the aroma of wine permeates every space of the courtyard. Lu Guang, wanting to reward his men for earning him the victory, had allowed them to do whatever and to take as much [wine] as they desired. As a result, the number of men who succumbed to alcohol, sometimes ending in death, rose considerably.
* Fu is a form of Chinese rhymed prose or rhapsody prominent during the Han Dynasty/
“Duan-canjun!”
*canjun or 参軍 is the person’s title, roughly a lower-ranked administrator
My thoughts are interrupted by the shout of the Han person I’ve been following, who is bowing in respect at some scholarly person ahead. The surname Duan…can this be Duan Ye?
If I don’t find ways to escape now, I will get found out. But the nearest alley is almost 20m away. If I try to leave in such an open space, I would get captured before I can even take any steps. Even as I strain myself trying to find a way to escape, a sliver of curiosity still rises in me—a part of me wants to see for myself this person who will one day become the first king of Nothern Liang. No one ever tells you how dangerous having history as your major can be, and how in moments like this, your curiosity can easily be the cause of your death ah.
Duan Ye looks to be around twenty years old, roughly 1m75 [5’9”] in height, square-faced, and carries himself in a dignified manner. He’s currently holding some paper and brushes while talking to a soldier. Upon hearing the shout of the Han person, he quickly turns around to return the greeting.
“Duan-canjun, how great it is that you’re here. I’ve been looking for you. It’s not safe for a lady to venture out of the city to find medicine, how could you have willingly let your newly-wedded wife out of your sights?”
Duan Ye is of course very surprised at this turn of events, glances at me and about to open his mouth to interject, but I pretend to be joyous at our reunion and immediately rush forward, then speak to him in a low voice: “I carry the words of a great sage who can sees through the fates. If you save me, I will definitely return the favour.”
The history books wrote that Duan Ye was someone who believed in superstitions and followed Buddhism. I can only pray that my move was a correct one.
He looks at me full of wariness, seemingly doubtful that I am as I claimed. But of course. I look too young, and my body is smelly from landing in that pit earlier, so there’s probably not an ounce of mystic aura in sight. Anxious, I quietly ask:
“The night before he broke through the walls of Kucha, General Lu had dreamed about a golden elephant flying out of the city, correct?”
This was an account written in the Book of Jin. Thanks to this dream, Lu Guang’s confidence rose even more, believing that it was a sign that “the Buddha has left, meaning the Hu will perish”. Because the Book of Jin is full of fantastical tales about strange powers, many historians later on will often disregard it as a true historical record. But I am placing a bet here. I bet that in the face of being greatly outnumbered by their enemies, Lu Guang had cooked up that strange dream to help bolster the spirits of his men. If I lose this bet, there will be no escape for me.
Duan Ye looks up at me in surprise, and stays contemplative for a while, neither denying nor agreeing with me. Nevertheless, he thanks the Han soldier and bids goodbye to the soldier he was talking to earlier, and then leads me away amidst their teasing.
As I walk with Duan Ye, I cannot help but feel anxious. That said, according to the historical accounts, Duan Ye is not a hot-tempered and cruel person like Lu Guang. If the situation turns bad, I should still be able to handle him.
Duan Ye brings me to a commoner’s house. Inside are numerous people who seem to be scholars, and they all greet Duan Ye upon his arrival. Lu Guang’s people must have taken over this house to use it as a meeting place for scholar-officials.
Once we are alone in a room, I clasp my hands in front of Duan Ye:
“In my haste, I had posed myself as a person of Duan-canjun in order to preserve my life, please forgive my impertinence.”
“Young lady, no need to apologize, for I understand the difficulty of your situation.”
His gentle and polite tone helps increase my opinion of him.
“The great sage that I had spoken of earlier is in fact the grand master well-known in the Western Regions, Kumarajiva. Though I am a person of little significance, I had the good grace to meet the master and learned a great many things from him. I had travelled to Kucha in the hopes that I could meet with the master once more and advanced my fortune-telling skills further.”
I do not know what Rajiva is doing right now, so I can only scour for his information by appealing to Duan Ye’s favourite pastime.
“The name Kumarajiva is nothing but thunder to one’s ear. Having heard of his ability to see through the fates and his knowledge of yin yang and the five elements, I have long been an admirer of his.”
“Oh? Has Duan-canjun not met the grand master before? I have heard that the master is currently staying with General Lu, so canjun should have been able to speak with the master regularly.”
I hold my breath, unable to look at his reaction.
He speaks with some frustration: “It is my great desire to seek his audience, but the master is being held captive, so I am not able to see him.”
“The master and I have history, if canjun can help me see him, I will definitely ask the master to read your fortune.”
“I am afraid it is not possible,” he speaks with emotion, but his tone is hesitant, “Word is, the General is holding the master inside the palace. A person of low rank such as I can never meet him.”
Disappointment floods me. I only know that Rajiva is being held captive in the palace, but no idea on whether Lu Guang has forced him to break his precepts yet. Not only is Duan Ye just a mere low-ranked officer, he is also not a confidant of Di descent to Lu Guang, so there is not much chance of him having access to any vital information.
I start asking Duan Ye other questions and learn that the siege happened five days ago, and on the third day since, Bai Zhen was made the king of Kucha.
After some thinking, I decide to ask Duan Ye for a different favour:
“Duan-canjun, is it possible for you to send someone to accompany me to find Pusyseda, the younger broker of Master Kumarajiva?”
To travel alone in this turbulent time is to ask for trouble. My stun gun is hardly sufficient against those lawless soldiers out there.
Afraid that Duan Ye might refuse, I quickly lower my voice and speak to him in what I hoped is a cryptic tone:
“From my observances, I can discern that your countenance is not of someone who is a small shrimp in a pond full of crabs, for the golden aura you emit tells me that you have a great future ahead of you.”
“Is this true?”
What a gullible person. His expression has turned secretive. Lowering his voice, he asks:
“When and where will it happen? Young lady, please tell me.”
I quickly set out my condition:
“If you agree to my request, I will tell you.”
Chenwei was a popular practice during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, a type of divination that was combined with mystical Confucian philosophy. Wang Meng wanted Fu Jian to kill the Xianbei generals, so he used chenwei to conjure up the prophecy that “in the month of Yiyou, year of Jiashen, fish and sheep will eat people”*. Fu Jian did not listen and continue to favour Murong Chui and his people, but his plans to unify the various ethnic tribes did not come to fruition. Wang Meng’s warning turned out to be extremely accurate. In 384 CE, also known as the year of Jiashen, Former Qin began to disintegrate. Although Fu Jian was killed by Yao Chang of Qiang descent, the main reason that caused the fall of Former Qin was the rebellion of the Xianbei, who wanted to reunify their state.
* [Lương Hiền’s T/N: fish and sheep or yu yang here refers to the Xianbei people.]
The fact that Duan Ye is agreeing to helping me find Pusysdeva only goes to show how powerful divination is.
