Chapter 56: Tang Dynasty - Anxi Army

When delving into the history of the Tang Dynasty, one encounters countless praises of its prosperous golden age. Yet, it was solely that one city of white-haired veterans, the lonely Anxi Army guarding the Western Regions, that moved Jiang Ye the most.

A few sparse lines in the annals of history, a wisp of loyal souls echoing through the millenia!

Those soldiers who guarded an isolated city amidst the billowing desert sands, those heroes who used their flesh and blood to establish the boundary markers of the Great Tang thousands of miles away, those veteran soldiers who raised the Tang banners high until their hair turned completely white.

They were not just cold numbers in history books, but souls who had engraved the words "loyalty and bravery" into their very bones and blood.

The wind and sand of the Western Regions wore away their armor, but could never extinguish the burning loyalty in their eyes.

Forty-two years of steadfast guarding turned their entire lives into the most tragic and epic footnote on the map of the Great Tang.

Long after the songs and dances of Chang'an had faded away, they still gripped their broadswords tightly with chapped palms; long after the emperors of the Central Plains had changed through several dynasties, they still performed the most standard Tang dynasty salute toward the eastern rising sun.

With the most resolute stance, the Anxi Army told future generations: some forms of perseverance are heavier than life itself; some kinds of loyalty can pierce through time.

This was why Jiang Ye admired the Anxi Army.

In his youth, he had even fantasized about traversing a thousand years of wind and smoke to reach that isolated city in the Western Regions, bringing hope to the soldiers clad in armor and holding spears; yearning to lend a helping hand to those loyal souls who held their ground until the very last moment of their lives.

He never expected that his next destination would be the Anxi Protectorate transformed into an "enclave," nor did he expect that this time the system would specify the exact time and location. Even less did he expect that the fantasies of his youth would one day have a chance of being realized.

He did not know which month of the year 789 the system would transport them to, but he knew one thing: in the following year, 790, the [Karluk tribe], which had previously sworn allegiance to the Uyghurs, would defect to the Tibetan Empire, and together they would launch a joint pincer attack on Beiting.

Yang Xigu, the Protector-General of Beiting, asked the Uyghurs for reinforcements, and the Uyghur general Jieganjiasi led troops to support them. Jieganjiasi was initially victorious but ultimately defeated, and the Uyghur army was crushed by the allied forces of Tibet and the Karluks, forcing them to retreat.

After the defeat of the Uyghur reinforcements, Beiting was left isolated and without support, and was eventually captured by the Tibetan Empire.

Yang Xigu led his remaining troops to break through the encirclement and fled to Xizhou (modern-day Turpan).

To shirk responsibility for the defeat, the Uyghur Jieganjiasi lured Yang Xigu to the Uyghur camp under false pretenses and murdered him.

The Beiting Protectorate thus came to an end, and the Tang Dynasty's outposts in the Western Regions were reduced solely to the Four Garrisons of Anxi (Kucha, Khotan, Kashgar, and Karasahr).

By then, the Anxi Army had completely become a solitary island.

There was no time to lose. Jiang Ye quickly finished his last steamed stuffed bun and half a bowl of tofu pudding.

He opened his phone and searched for "Nanhu Vegetable Market," finding it was very close to Xingfuli Residential Community.

Jiang Ye walked out of the breakfast shop, flipping through his WeChat group chats as he walked.

[Qin Dynasty Tour Group]

At seven o'clock in the morning, the chat group was dead silent.

Jiang Ye: [@All Members A new tour destination is open—One-day tour of the Tang Dynasty Anxi Protectorate in the year 789. Does anyone in the group know a vendor at the Nanhu Vegetable Market?]

As soon as the message was sent, no one responded in the chat.

Just as Jiang Ye returned to the travel agency, there was activity in the WeChat group.

Zhou Xingfang: [@Jiang Ye, a new tour group is open. Is it strictly necessary to have a vendor from the Nanhu Vegetable Market? Would the owner of the Nanhu Vegetable Market suffice?]

Upon seeing this message, Jiang Ye turned around and asked the system.

"Little System, does the owner of the Nanhu Vegetable Market meet the requirements?"

[Qualified.]

Jiang Ye: [That works.]

Zhou Xingfang put down his phone and turned to look at his wife, who was busy arranging flowers: "Darling, if I recall correctly, your cousin Chen Ming owns the Nanhu Vegetable Market, doesn't he?"

Madame Zhou paused her hand in trimming the flower branches and looked up in confusion: "Yes, what's wrong?"

Zhou Xingfang put down his teacup and said in a calm tone: "I plan to acquire the Nanhu Vegetable Market."

Madame Zhou stopped what she was doing and looked at him in astonishment: "Why on earth would we acquire a vegetable market? While that market isn't much to speak of for my younger brother, it was where my uncle made his fortune. They won't sell it easily."

Zhou Xingfang picked up a gold coin lying on the coffee table nearby: "Little Ye's tour group is opening again, and this time the destination is the Tang Dynasty. The requirement is that the participant must be the owner or a vendor of the Nanhu Vegetable Market. I intend to let Haoran go to the Tang Dynasty to broaden his horizons. I'm just borrowing the vegetable market for a while."

The vegetable market generated a decent annual income, but to both the Chen and Zhou families, it was a negligible asset.

Madame Zhou instantly fell silent.

Choosing the Nanhu Vegetable Market this time, and with the destination being the Anxi Army, there seemed to be a subtle connection between the two.

Zhou Xingfang sensed a hint of deeper meaning, though he wasn't completely sure if his intuition was accurate.

While Zhou Xingfang moved at top speed to arrange the acquisition of the Nanhu Vegetable Market, other members of the group began to pop up one after another.

Wu Xiaoshi: [Ahhhhh! My eldest aunt runs a rice, flour, grain, and oil shop in the Nanhu Vegetable Market!]

Jiang Ye: [Have your cousin sign up. One quota per family.]

Wu Xiaoshi: [I'm already contacting them. Let me reserve a spot for my cousin first.]

Zhang Minghui: [Guide Jiang, how many slots are available this time?]

Jiang Ye: [Five.]

Upon seeing the messages in the group, Lin Ru, Zhang Huaiming, Jiang Yijun, Li Qingyi, and Zhao Hong immediately instructed their subordinates to urgently acquire stalls in the Nanhu Vegetable Market.

In a residential community in Hangzhou, Wang Cheng, Zhang Huaiming's assistant, stared at his phone screen with his brow knitted into a tight knot.

"Acquire a stall in the Nanhu Vegetable Market?" He stared at the message, blinking rapidly to make sure his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, and muttered under his breath, "Did President Zhang send the message to the wrong place?"

"That shouldn't be right." Wang Cheng rubbed his temples, continuing to mutter, "The group's investment directions are finance and technology; what on earth does a vegetable market have to do with anything?"

Hesitating for a moment, he dialed Zhang Huaiming's number: "President Zhang, did you send the acquisition order you just issued to the wrong place?"

On the other end of the line, Zhang Huaiming's voice was utterly calm: "It wasn't sent to the wrong place. Execute it immediately, the faster the better."

He had to get it done before anyone else could.

Wang Cheng: "Understood, President Zhang."

After hanging up, he stared blankly out the window, feeling as though he might still be dreaming.

Jiang Capital

For the past few days, Liu Mingyuan and his team members had been working overtime due to a project worth several billion.

At this moment, a group of them were sitting in the conference room. Just as the meeting was coming to an end and Liu Mingyuan was preparing to wrap it up, he unexpectedly received a message from the boss.

Receiving a message from the boss at this hour wasn't particularly unusual, but the content inside left Liu Mingyuan deep in thought.

Acquire a stall in a vegetable market?

"Could the government be planning to redevelop the Nanhu district?" Liu Mingyuan muttered to himself.

He reread the text message carefully. It contained only a short sentence: [Acquire a stall in the Nanhu Vegetable Market at top speed, regardless of cost.]

Liu Mingyuan took a deep breath. Setting aside all other thoughts, he directly instructed one of his subordinates, "Xiao Li, there is a task I need you to handle. The specific details have been sent to your phone. Remember, get it done as fast as possible, and don't worry about the price."

The subordinates of several major tycoons raced against time to acquire the market stalls, while the four night-owl rich kids, having failed to wake up early, completely missed out on the grand spectacle.