[Lightscreen]
[After securing the rights to govern the Hexi and Longyou regions, Zhang Yichao did not waste a single heartbeat before letting his administrative genius loose.
For a long time, the rhythm of life in Hexi had one beat. Production and trade.
The region, once bled dry by Tibetan slave-drivers until the commoners barely had the strength to breathe, was systematically brought back to life by Zhang Yichao's steady hand.
He was a man of systems.
Taking a page out of the Marquis Wu's, Zhuge Liang playbook, he prioritized water conservancy, digging irrigation canals and appointing dedicated managers for every single waterway.
He pushed for a balanced economy where farmers, herders, and merchants each played to their strengths.
Most importantly, he went all-in on cultural restoration. The records of the time described a total transformation: Instructed in the ways of the Central Plains, the people became refined and gentle.
The local customs were completely reborn.
The local Tang people could not hide their pride in his governance. They boasted that after a century of being forced to wear barbarian robes, they were finally back in traditional caps and gowns.
The ten commanderies of survivors had quite literally been pulled from the fire.
In 856 AD, the King of the Tuyuhun north of Shazhou thought he would try his luck at a little pillaging. Realizing he had kicked a hornet's nest once Zhang Yichao's banner appeared, the King tried to snatch some grain and vanish into the desert.
Zhang Yichao did not allow him to escape. He chased them over a thousand li, deep into Tuyuhun territory.
This was not just a battle. It was a statement. Despite being outnumbered, the Guiyi Army surrounded the enemy.
Zhang Yichao himself led the charge, a whirlwind of steel and silk at the head of his elite cavalry. His display of raw Tang martial prowess sent a chill through the Tuyuhun that they had not felt in generations.
The surrounded Tuyuhun tribes had the numbers, but their morale had evaporated. They just wanted to break through and run north.
Instead, the Tang soldiers tore through them with a ferocity where one man fought like ten. Chronicles from the era noted: The barbarians fled in terror to the north and south, while the heroic Han generals fought with the strength of a hundred men each.
Nearly a century later, the Tuyuhun were forced to remember the trembling fear of the Great Tang's celestial wrath.
Zhang Yichao finished the job by executing three Tuyuhun ministers in front of his assembled troops. He cut down thousands, captured hundreds, and seized untold thousands of camels, horses, and sheep.
As the Guiyi Army marched home in triumph, the soldiers sang the Dazhen Yue, the Grand Formation.
While the full melody of this Han-era war song has been lost to time, surviving only in fragments of Song dynasty literature, one line remained to immortalize the moment: Ten thousand li of marching men, all singing the songs of Han.
It was the perfect epitaph for Zhang Yichao's career.
That same year, when the Uighur and remnant Tibetan forces in Shazhou tried to stir up trouble, he repeated the process. He surrounded them, crushed them, and chased the survivors for fifty li until the ground was carpeted with bodies.
The Guiyi Army returned with ten thousand head of livestock.
From that point on, anyone who dared to disrupt the peace, whether they were Dangxiang, Uighur, or Wumo, felt the iron fist of Zhang Yichao.
He protected the people's livelihoods with one hand and raised the Guiyi Army's prestige with the other.
Eventually, he could sit peacefully in Shazhou and watch as: Envoys from kingdoms thousands of li away came to bow. Barbarians from every direction sought peace and alliance.
Tribes from all eight directions danced before his dais, and old enemies offered gold and jade just to stay on his good side.
Fifty years after the White-Haired Army had vanished into the dust, the Great Tang's glory finally blazed across the Western Regions once more.]
"He really is like the Military Advisor," Zhang Fei muttered, his voice unusually low.
The more he learned about these legendary figures, the more Zhang Fei felt the weight of his own insignificance.
He had not fought the barbarians on the frontier. He had spent his life fighting for his Big Brother, and while his deeds were known, they felt small compared to this.
He had died a ridiculous death, a footnote for history.
And as for governance? Zhang Fei would not know where to start, especially in a land filled with a hundred different tribes.
This man could project raw power and then turn around and rule with such benevolence that everyone submitted willingly.
To Zhang Fei, that was not just impressive. It was divine. It was the same level as Kongming.
"The carrot and the stick, used in perfect harmony," Pang Tong marveled. How could one man be this capable?
He glanced at Kongming with a mischievous glint in his eye. "And even better... though he compared himself to the Wolong in his youth, he might have actually outdone you in one area, Kongming.
At least I do not see you leading a cavalry charge into the heart of an enemy formation."
Kongming just shook his head with a smile. He knew his limits. He could move an army like a chess master, but he was not about to play the role of the vanguard.
"He is a fierce general on top of everything else. But his record..." Guan Yu paused, his eyes narrowing.
"Chen Zigong once said that five barbarian soldiers are only worth one Han soldier. But Sun Bin also said that when you are the guest in a foreign land, you need twice the numbers of the host. This Guiyi Army was consistently outnumbered, yet they had the audacity to surround the enemy's cities and break them. Such ferocity is rare indeed."
"Maybe it is just the residual fear of the Tang's reputation?" Wei Yan guessed.
Still, he could not hide the envy in his voice. "Sitting in his city, receiving gold and dances from surrendering tribes... that kind of fame is on the level of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing."
"Whether he is on their level is up for debate," Huang Zhong said, shaking his head. "But his bravery? He is a legendary general, no doubt about it."
---
In the Ganlu Hall, Li Shimin had only one word. "Good!"
He shot up from his seat, pacing with newfound energy. "Good! Excellent! Brilliant!"
His headache was gone. He felt like he could bench press a horse. "If every frontier general in the Late Tang had been like Zhang Yichao, the dynasty would have lasted another five hundred years!"
Of course, he knew he was dreaming. But there was one nagging detail.
"Why the Dazhen Yue?"
Li Shimin knew the song. Back when he first started his rebellion, he would sing it with his men after a victory. But if these were warriors of the Great Tang, why were they not singing Tang songs?
"Is it possible my "Qinwang Pozhen Yue, the Prince of Qin Breaking the Formations"
"That should not be hard to fix," Zhangsun Wuji said, stepping up like a loyal shadow.
"I am sure the court musicians would be thrilled to write new lyrics for the "Qinwang Pozhen Yue, the Prince of Qin Breaking the Formations" We can make sure the soldiers have a version for going into battle, one for breaking the enemy, one for the return, and one for when they are feeling homesick!"
"Perfect!" Li Shimin beamed.
"It should not be Ten thousand li of marching men singing the songs of Han. It should be Songs of Tang."
Then he had a better idea, a smirk playing on his lips. "Actually, make it Ten thousand li of barbarians singing the songs of Tang!"
Li Shimin burst into a boisterous laugh. Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui just exchanged a look. They were used to the Emperor's visionary outbursts by now.
[Lightscreen]
[Despite the string of victories and the submission of the surrounding tribes, Zhang Yichao knew exactly where the Guiyi Army's Achilles' heel was located.
The Tibetans still held Liangzhou, effectively severing the Guiyi Army's main artery.
Without Liangzhou, there was no direct line to the Central Plains, which meant no flow of people or resources from the heart of the empire.
Only by making the Tang population in Hexi flourish again could the dynasty truly claim to own the region.
Only then could the Guiyi Army have a steady stream of fresh blood.
But taking Liangzhou? That was a nightmare scenario. It was the Tibetan Empire's final fortress in Hexi, the place where every retreating army, every remnant force, and every slave-holding noble had gathered for a final stand.
But Zhang Yichao could not wait any longer. After ten years of preparation, he decided to roll the dice on a life-or-death battle to bring Hexi fully back into the fold.
Starting in 858, without a single soldier or scrap of food from Chang'an, he began the war for Liangzhou.
It was a meat grinder. Every single outpost and village outside the city walls had to be wrestled away from the Tibetans.
The campaign lasted three agonizing years. Countless Guiyi soldiers threw their lives away just to clear a path to the city gates.
In August of 861, with only seven thousand men left under his command, Zhang Yichao gave the order: Crush the barbarians, clear the path, and take Liangzhou! Tang sons, your journey home begins today!
Facing a much larger force, Zhang Yichao used the cover of darkness for a surprise strike.
The Tibetan lines collapsed into chaos, but they quickly rallied when they realized the invading force was barely a thousand men. But the Guiyi Army, seeing their general leading from the front, fought with a supernatural intensity.
Soldiers who took a blow to the head just wiped the blood away with a handful of dirt and kept swinging. When their horses were cut out from under them, they charged the Tibetan cavalry on foot with nothing but their blades.
Their tunics were so soaked through with enemy blood they became heavy and sodden. Some men just ripped them off and fought half-naked in the dirt.
In the end, the Guiyi Army, whose blades shone like frost and snow, shattered the Tibetans' will to fight.
The defense broke, and the survivors scattered into the night. Zhang Yichao, anticipating the rout, had his reserves ready to close the trap.
The Tibetans were methodically hunted down.
For miles, the ground was littered with Tibetan corpses. There were so many that they could not even be buried before the first frost hit, leaving them as a feast for the wolves and tigers.
Interestingly, Gao Jinda, the man who had delivered the first message to Chang'an, participated in this battle. After this, his name vanishes from history. It is highly likely he died on the fields of Liangzhou.
With that stunning victory, the Hexi Corridor was finally wide open. The land was now synonymous with the name of Zhang Yichao and his Guiyi Army.
Longxi was reconnected to the Tang map, and the people who had been stranded there for a century could finally look toward their homeland.
A poet of the time wrote: Hexi was lost for over a hundred years, the roads blocked and news as rare as a lone goose. Thanks to the General who carved the path, the world knows his glorious name once more.]
"That," Li Shimin said, his voice thick with emotion, "is how a Tang general should be!"
While he felt for Zhang Yichao's lonely struggle, he could not help but feel a surge of pride. This was the Early Tang. The shame of the Weishui River Treaty had not been washed away yet, and the Turks were still a threat.
Zhang Yichao was the perfect blueprint for what a Tang commander should aspire to be.
But there was still that one nagging issue.
"How on earth can they call this Xuanzong a Little Taizong?" Li Shimin said, his voice dripping with disdain. "He completely ignored the man! It is a disgrace to my name! Call him Little Xuanzong instead!"
He still remembered the descendant who fled to Shu and was given the title Xuanzong. If Li Shimin had a general like Zhang Yichao, he would have led the reinforcements himself, or at the very least sent everything the treasury had to support the reclamation of Hexi.
"Does this descendant of mine know nothing about military affairs?"
Du Ruhui tried to play devil's advocate. "Perhaps there were other wars going on at the same time?
Maybe he was spread too thin?
We are only seeing a tiny slice of history through this light screen, after all."
It was a weak defense, and they all knew it, especially after seeing the earlier general drinking while his people suffered.
Li Shimin just huffed and looked at the screen sadly. "A shame about Gao Jinda."
He turned his annoyance back toward the future Emperor. "If he had sent even twelve hundred men, maybe Gao Jinda would not have had to die!"
Fang Xuanling tried to offer a silver lining. "Just because he is not in the records does not mean he died. Maybe he just retired from the front lines?"
Li Shimin was not entirely convinced, but he let it go. "Zhang Yichao... the light screen was not exaggerating when it compared him to Zhuge Liang.
Based on his actions alone, he deserves the title Loyal and Martial. To have a man like that and not use him to his full potential? What a waste! What a tragic waste!"
He genuinely felt the loss. The Early Tang was just beginning, and it desperately needed men who could lead a charge in the morning and manage a province in the afternoon.
"Record his story. Give him a separate biography. I want to read it regularly," Li Shimin commanded.
---
"The world knows his glorious name once more!"
Zhang Fei repeated the line, clearly loving the drama of it. "Man, these Tang writers really knew how to hype someone up!"
"They did," Huang Zhong agreed, wearing a perfectly straight face. "It is much better than a general having to praise himself after a victory."
He glanced sideways at Zhang Fei. "You know, like The Han General Zhang Fei crushed Zhang He and carved this stone to prove it."
Zhang Fei's face went from red to purple in record time. He stayed dead silent while the rest of the hall erupted into laughter.
Pang Tong, however, kept his eyes on the light screen, his expression turning somber. "The more I see of the Guiyi Army's bravery, the more I realize that the Late Tang was a corpse that did not know it was dead yet."
"Think about it," Pang Tong continued. "Zhang Yichao did not even have a formal command from the Tang.
He rose up because he missed the idea of the Great Tang.
He reclaimed eleven commanderies that had been lost for a century.
The people loved him, the barbarians feared him, and when they finally fought their way back to their homeland, the Tang court gave them... nothing. No supplies, no troops."
"It was all on them," he added. "A group of abandoned people, holding onto a memory, spent three years bleeding just to carve a path home."
Jian Yong nodded slowly. "Zhang Yichao's heart was set on the Great Tang. But when he finally broke through at Liangzhou, all he found was the Late Tang."
He looked over at Kongming. "It is like you, Your heart is with the Great Han, but you are stuck trying to patch up the holes in a world that is falling apart."
Kongming froze for a second, the weight of the comment landing, then let out a long, bittersweet laugh.