[Light-screen]
[ What was the innate weakness of the Guiyi Army?
Nothing complicated.
They lacked people.
After Tubo occupied Hexi, the first thing they did was strip the Tang population of status—enslaving them, slaughtering them at will.
They even devised a method of execution: piercing the shoulder bones with leather cords, tying the victim to a horse, and dragging them to death.
But brutality alone cannot govern land.
So Tubo changed tactics.
They courted local elites, attempting to absorb Tang people into their rule.
At that time, however, the Tang backbone had not yet broken.
The Protectorate of Anxi still had its White-Haired Army.
Tang records note that when envoys passed through Hexi, what they saw were still Tang people.
When these people saw the imperial banners, they lined the roads to watch.
They asked only three questions:
"Is the Son of Heaven well?"
"Do our descendants still wear Tang dress?"
"Does the court still remember us?"
"When will the army come?"
Only then did Tubo change policy again.
They began to vigorously promote Buddhism.
The Tibetan Plateau bordered India.
High monks were invited to preach at Dunhuang.
Buddhism was widely propagated there.
Buddhism produces no grain.
Buddhism produces no children.
It naturally suppresses population growth.
Meanwhile, due to the An Lushan Rebellion, all battle-worthy troops from Hexi were drawn east into the civil war.
They never returned.
This resulted in a severe demographic imbalance.
The number of women in Hexi approached three times that of men.
Later, internal strife within Tubo led to further massacres—another devastating blow to the Tang population of Hexi.
This was also why Zhang Yichao was willing to risk everything to reopen Liangzhou.
Only with population replenishment from the Central Plains could Hexi revive.
Otherwise, it would mirror Shu-Han's later years:
A slow death.]
"No water at the source," Zhuge Liang sighed softly,
"how could it not dry up?"
He seemed to glimpse the future of the Guiyi Army—still rising, yet already doomed.
"No adult men.
Religion forbids birth.
Wars never cease.
If Han people vanish,
how can Han land remain?"
Ma Liang was stunned.
"Then Emperor Wuzong's suppression of Buddhism… was it also for reasons like this?"
Zhang Fei cut in bluntly:
"These monks come from Tianzhu begging for food, and still dare to tell our people not to have children?"
"If a man doesn't marry, what's the point of living?!"
Zhuge Liang recalled the Sutra of Forty-Two Chapters.
"Indian Buddhism preaches extinguishing desire, strict discipline, meditation for wisdom—attaining the four fruits of śramaṇa."
"It demands self-denial and asceticism."
"It's somewhat similar to that Roman emperor—Aurelius."
Zhang Fei scoffed immediately.
"No drinking, no women—why not just die?!"
"And if you want to suffer, why seize land?"
"No wonder the Tang emperor smashed the temples."
"They must've been unbearable."
Jian Yong laughed.
"Sounds like Zha Rong of Xiapi."
"Never cultivates himself, binds others instead, fills his own pockets to gild Buddha statues while tens of thousands starve to celebrate Buddha's birthday."
Zhang Fei shouted:
"Hypocrites! Deserved it!"
Zhuge Liang waved his hand, suppressing the noise.
"Take this as a warning."
"If foreign monks arrive, strictly register them."
"No gifts. No land."
"Observe first."
Pang Tong suddenly wore a mischievous grin.
"Kongming, I have an idea—"
Zhuge Liang raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
"Excellent idea, Shiyuan."
"The barbarians are crude. They should cultivate Buddhism to calm their hearts."
Pang Tong froze.
At the same moment, Guan Yu spoke:
"Can monks be used as soldiers?"
...
Elsewhere.
Li Shimin's voice was calm—but chilling.
"If we capture the Zanpu," he said lightly,
"I wish to pierce his shoulder bones with leather cords, drag him before the Ancestral Temple by swift horses—"
"To comfort later generations."
"To deter foreign ambition."
"What do you think?"
This was not a moment for Zhangsun Wuji to speak.
Fang Xuanling closed his eyes, appearing deep in thought.
Du Ruhui could only steel himself.
"Your Majesty… to 'comfort later generations' in this way is unreasonable."
"Such humiliation harms the dignity of the dynasty."
Li Shimin replied simply:
"The Tang's dignity was forged by blades."
"Tubo and Goguryeo are treacherous."
"They deserve neither trust nor mercy."
"My mind is made up."
Du Ruhui bowed, resigned—while wondering whether more ministers should be allowed to see the Light-screen.
And how to enlarge it.
As for Buddhism…
Li Shimin felt a headache coming on.
He still remembered that Yang Guang had been a Bodhisattva-precept disciple.
He had seen Buddhist influence everywhere during his campaigns.
Previously, he thought it was merely about prayers and rebirth.
That was why he had ordered temples built near battlefields.
Tang monastic institutions had simply inherited Sui systems.
So he asked:
"Xuanling—does Buddhism not engage in production?"
Fang Xuanling nodded.
Then shook his head.
Li Shimin frowned.
"Explain."
"By Tang law," Fang Xuanling said carefully,
"monks receive thirty mu of land, nuns twenty."
"Temple estates also pay tax."
"However, they employ lay servants and slaves to labor on their behalf."
"And…"
He stopped.
Du Ruhui finished plainly:
"And the court frequently grants them gifts."
"Temple estates live in abundance."
Li Shimin rubbed his temples.
"Let's keep watching."
[Light-screen]
[Before Zhang Yichao captured Liangzhou, the Guiyi Army was already on bad terms with the Tang court.
What Zhang Yichao wanted was clear: the Hexi Jiedushi title.
The name "Guiyi Army" deeply displeased the people of Hexi.
Internally, Zhang Yichao consistently styled himself Jiedushi or Observing Commissioner—further fueling court suspicion.
Emperor Xuanzong could still pass as human.
After his death, Emperor Yizong—installed through eunuch-forged edicts—was another matter entirely.
Facing Zhang Yichao, who had independently reclaimed Liangzhou, Yizong feared a powerful warlord.
Thus he began shoveling dirt onto the Tang coffin lid.
Zhang Yichao was forbidden from entering Liangzhou.
A Liangzhou Jiedushi was appointed instead.
Two thousand five hundred troops from Shandong were transferred—after a thousand-li march—to take control.
Zhang Yichao was demoted from Guiyi Jiedushi to Guazhou-Shazhou Jiedushi.
He was stripped of authority over Lanzhou, Shanzhou, and Hezhou.
After Zhang Yichao voluntarily entered court, Yizong kept him in Chang'an—still nominally governing Guazhou and Shazhou from afar.
In a display of "great kindness," Yizong sent Zhang Yichao's two sons back to Guazhou and Shazhou to divide power.
His heir Zhang Huaishen's prestige collapsed.
Two years later, the Tianning Army was annihilated by the rising Uighur remnants.
Liangzhou fell again.
The Hexi Corridor was severed once more.
Zhang Yichao petitioned desperately for Liangzhou's recovery.
Yizong replied loftily:
"How can you accuse the Tang of not reclaiming Liangzhou?"
"Do you know how hard the state labors?"
"Is this even your responsibility?"
"I know you are loyal—but don't mention this again."
Three years later, Zhang Yichao died.
His nephew Zhang Huaishen described his final years:
'Sudden calamity struck in dreams—perhaps there was time, but no fate.'
Ten years later, Sikong Tu passed through Hexi and wrote:
'Han children all speak barbarian tongues,
yet curse the Han from the city walls.']
"Another fool of a ruler!"
Li Shimin finally cursed aloud.
Those two lines stabbed him deeply.
Hexi—opened by Han, secured by Tang—
lost completely.
If Han children speak barbarian tongues, they are no longer Han.
And that land is no longer Han land.
Li Shimin jumped up, furious.
"Three years to reopen Hexi—and he gets demoted!"
"Loyal service answered with family division!"
"The bowl isn't even steady and they're already smashing it!"
"A forged-edict emperor—shameful for a thousand years!"
"If he stood before me, I'd run him through myself!"
Zhangsun Wuji wiped sweat from his brow and quietly edged away.
Fang Xuanling calmly recorded every word.
Du Ruhui stared at the poem and exhaled.
"Xuanling… I want to campaign for the state someday."
Seeing Fang's surprise, he continued:
"The Tang realm will stretch ten thousand li under our hands."
"Within it are countless peoples."
"We cannot kill them all."
"I want to walk the frontier myself—like Zhang Yichao."
"To see how such lands should be governed."
Fang Xuanling murmured:
"That may not be necessary…"
Du Ruhui shook his head.
"I was meant to die next year."
"Now that illness is gone, why not go see the borders?"
Fang Xuanling sighed.
"After the Turks, Goguryeo will come."
"The Emperor will personally campaign."
"How could we be spared?"
...
In Gong'an County, all lamented Zhang Yichao.
"A great general, unmet by a wise ruler," Liu Bei sighed.
"The late Tang wronged him deeply."
He thought the same as Li Shimin:
If only Zhang Yichao were mine…
"Kongming was luckier," someone said.
"He met my lord."
"Zhang Yichao met his rival."
Zhang Fei sighed.
"If the Strategist had served that emperor, farming in Nanyang would've been a good end."
Zhuge Liang laughed helplessly.
"'Yi' is his posthumous title—not his name."
Then he pointed to the real problem.
"Liangzhou fell again. The roads were cut."
"And the Jiedushi title was only nominal."
"How could the Guiyi Army fight?"
No one answered.
Pang Tong concluded:
"Liangzhou wasn't lost by the people."
"It was thrown away by the emperor himself."
"Power games over governance—no wonder he was adding dirt to the Tang coffin."
Zhang Fei suddenly clapped.
"By this count, Ah-Dou has one more defeated opponent!"
Everyone laughed—then sighed.
[Light-screen]
[That concludes this episode.
Zhang Yichao was discussed because his life resembled that of Zhuge Liang—only with worse luck.
He gave everything, yet won no favor.]