Part Six: The Regency of Queen Mother Zhang Que (947 to 961 AD)
Zhang Que as Regent of Ü-Tsang, August 947 AD.
Part Six: The Regency of Queen Mother Zhang Que (947 to 961 AD)
During his lifetime Yumtän II had never designated a regent, though his own fading health and the extreme youth of his son made such a position likely. Even as the old Gyalpo drew his last breath in his bedchambers in Taktsé every conversation around the monarch's corporeal form was the same. Who would rule for Yumtän III and effectively control Eastern Tibet for over a dozen years before the infant king reached his majority?
Princess Chödron was an obvious choice for regent. The eldest daughter of Yumtän II had spent most of her life as heir apparent to throne, and should her half brother not see out his minority she might still become Gylelmo. The twenty seven year old Princess Chödron could command a certain loyal in the kingdom, including many who thought her 'demotion' unjust. She was also unmarried, inviting certain more ambitious courtiers the idea of power through marriage. Unfortunately the princess was her father's daughter when it came to appearance and she not merely resembled a jaundiced toad in appearance she lived down to the manners of one. 'Uncouth and unpleasant,' was the opinion of many and a few of the more cynical courtiers wondered whether the young Yumtän III would be quite safe in her care... given the family history it would have been a relief if the boy king merely picked a slovenly appearance and a practice of cleaning his ears in public from his half-sister.
There were other sisters but they were either too young or too flawed or both and one by one their names were crossed off the dwindling list of potential regents. In the end the court turned to the single obvious candidate, the one person who could be assured to look after Yumtän III: his mother.
Zhang Que was only twenty years old, was a foreigner and practiced the minority faith of Taoism, even if she was famously tolerant in matters of faith. Some feared she would be the pawn of her father the Emperor Ruizong. And yet... there was no denying the fact that she was an impressive woman. Zhang Que was intelligent, kind and patient and even her shyness around strangers hid the skills of a born diplomat. The dying Yumtän II had appointed her his Lönchen so she was already known to the council. It was all enough to carry the day with the great of Ü-Tsang. After a sleepless night full of debate and auguries the council asked the Queen mother (as she was now) to officially take up the regency.
The Queen Mother had what may be charitably called a difficult time during her nearly fourteen years in control of the kingdom. To her credit Ü-Tsang remained whole, something that had not been certain at the start of her son's reign. She introduced or popularised many aspects of sophisticated Chinese court life previously little known and there was a temporary but real fad for Han culture among the grand ladies of Taktsé. Silk clothing, rice and a dozen other aspects common to Wei Dynasty grandees but fascinating novelties to the Tibetans appeared in the formerly grim halls of Taktsé Castle. Zhang Que would also have the opportunity to enlarge the fabulous Royal Gardens and oversee the construction of a strong new castle at Comai. Under her period in power the people of the county of Gyangzê would turn from the Old Bön ways to the reformed path. These were genuine achievements that should not be forgotten despite everything else.
Though Ü-Tsang would be troubled by Buddhist and Taoist uprisings and though barbarian adventurers and their hosts would prove a plague for so much of the regency it was as ever the great barons who proved the kingdom's greatest enemies. The troubles under Yumtän II had not broken the great lords of their ambitions and even as Zhang Que was officially proclaimed regent the plots were already in motion.
Beyond sheer brazen disloyalty and personal ambition the element that united the quarrelsome barons was a desire to achieve power within Ü-Tsang. Even the greatest noble rebels were uninterested in achieving a precarious independence which the Wei Empire, the Kingdom of Guge or the endless parade of savage horsemen from the north might sweep away in a matter of days. 'Cultural' rebellions, such as the Taoist attempt to re-create the old Kingdom of Xia out of Nagormo inevitably began from the bottom up rather than from the elite.
With the Gyalpo a child and even his mother and guardian scarcely out of her teenage years the government surviving several years without the barons raising their standards was a minor miracle. In fact even the most ambitious nobles seem to have been biding their time to see whether Yumtän III would live; in late 947 the boy monarch was struck by what turned out to be pneumonia. For weeks he lingered between life and death before making a recovery. Rather when unexpected death struck the royal line it would be Yumtän's sister Princess Chödron who died under suspicious circumstances on 22 July 949. The princess, twenty nine and childless had taken violently ill after a feast and though everyone believed poison was involved none knew the culprit. Or at least revealed any knowledge.
Princess Chödron had been an unpopular woman, unattractive inside and out. Her twenty four year old sister Princess Mungchang who now became heir was a better candidate for the throne, even if few would accuse her having a great mind. Still Princess Chödron, whatever her many flaws had been heir for almost her entire life and a natural counterweight to the Queen Mother and her son. Her death may have aided Yumtän III simply by removing the one figure from the game board who was a believable monarch in waiting. It would take time for Chödron's followers to drift to other factions and for those factions to regroup.
The invasion of Jamugha of Dimapur, July 953 AD.
Between 951 and 955 the Queen Mother would be faced with two major foreign invasions, that of the Kirghiz warlord Udur whose merciless host pillaged much of Ü-Tsang and immediately after that of the overambitious Thakur Jamugha of Dimapur, a vassal of the Maharajah of Pala who sought to wrest control of Buddhist territory from Ü-Tsang. Though both parties were defeated in the end between them they managed to inflict a string of brutal defeats on the Tibetans. Hundreds, even thousands of gallant soldiers were left dead at the hands of the barbarians and the agonies were not numbered only in the human cost. With so many loyal peasant soldiers dead the Queen Mother had been forced to draw on mercenaries even more than usual. They made good warriors. Expensive ones too. By the time Jamugha was beaten and forced to abandon his designs on Tibetan territory the once boundless royal treasury had grown frighteningly empty.
During the war against Jamugha the Thumo of Lhasa, Purgyal Khrimalod managed to seduce her gaoler and escape the confines of Taktsé - no mean feat for a forty one year old woman who had lost an eye in battle. Khrimalod was a traitor of old, the niece of the long dead Wangdu and in her own right one of the most powerful nobles in Ü-Tsang. She had won the nickname 'the Sword of Dralha Yesi' and among her other claims had conquered the tiny Buddhist Kingdom of Nepal. No real conspiracy in the kingdom could hope to succeed without her help. So in 954 Pakmodru Kunzang of Bumthang approached the arch rebel in Lhasa and appealed for aid. Kunzhang herself was the daughter of an executed traitor - Camakhura Thrisong -and she had neither forgotten nor forgiven her mother's death. On 24 January 955 the two were joined by Purgyal Zimun of Barbar [1] and together the trio sent an ultimatum to the regent.
The war that erupted that January was not much bigger than those that had faced Yumtän II but the resources available to Zhang Que were sadly diminished. The constant strain of fighting of barbarians had left the Royalists fatally weakened. Another two years of peace and recovery, a year and a half even and Zhang Que might have regained the resources needed to quash Khrimalod, Kunzhang and Zimun but as it was the richest city in the kingdom was in rebel hands from the start and the pressure never ceased. The Queen Mother would spend a miserable year watching gold vanish almost as quickly as she looked at it while her forces remained too small to attack the rebels directly. By December it was clear the war could not go on and Zhang Que asked for terms.
The Peace of Lhasa was signed by the arch-conspirators and the Queen Mother on behalf of her son on 14 December 955. There were various minor concessions to the dignity of the great barons but the main clause of the treaty was the change of power between throne and council. The old system of Ü-Tsang and the Tibetan Empire before it in which the monarch had wielded absolute authority was at an end. Instead the reigning Gyalpo [2] would find himself bound to accept the votes of his ministers in great matters.
The Peace of Lhasa, 14 December 955 AD.
It was a profound humiliation and the Queen Mother's reputation would never recover. The loss of power was real and immediately felt and yet...
The fact was that Ü-Tsang had been convulsed by civil war three times within a single generation on this matter. For decades the great barons had used the supposed tyranny of the monarch as a cri de couer to unite. Regardless of whether any given monarch had behaved unjustifiably or not the laws allowing him to do as he pleased was bitterly resented by these overmighty subjects. Now, though neither side yet realised it the boil had been lanced. Abruptly that one unifying cause was gone. In the hour of their victory the great barons celebrated and Lhasa, cold and crisp as it was in December saw a dazzling collection of the great and good feasting, drinking and swearing bonds of friendship with each other. In the morning these same men and women would remember that they were all rivals striving for a seat on the council and the monarch's ear.
Zhang Que returned to Taktsé and to her son a diminished figure. She would still have half a dozen years before her son reached majority and might have justifiably feared that the future would bring more disasters. In fact the worst was behind her. Barbarian horsemen would remain a nuisance and there would be religious troubles too from the Taoists and Buddhists, but as irritating as these problems were they did not threaten the state as the barons had. The great aristocrats still played their games of intrigue with each other but with no great issues before them they were happy to remain at peace. Notably when it came to execution of traitors after the religious revolts the votes of the council were unanimous with the crown. Wild eyed firebrands and fanatical peasants threatened them too.
Throughout all this period the Gyalpo had been slowly growing to manhood. Thankfully he would take more after his mother than his father in looks as the distinct appearance that had so marked Yumtän II and Princess Chödron had left no mark on Yumtän III. This pleasant young man would take after his mother in other respects. Previous monarchs of Ü-Tsang had been warrior kings almost from birth. The young Yumtän III was not a warrior but a diplomat, as his mother had raised him. Whether that was what was best for the kingdom would soon be seen.
On 18 March 961 Yumtän III turned sixteen and Zhang Que formally resigned the regency, though at least for the moment she would remain on the council as the Lönchen. Characteristically the departure was low key and dignified as the Queen Mother departed her throne, kowtowed to her son and took a lesser position with the rest of the council. She was then only thirty six and still a woman of enviable grace and charm even if the strains of ruling had left tiny tributaries of silver running through her once night black hair.
Judged on the terms of Yumtän II who had fought so hard against the barons to keep royal power absolute the regency had been a failure. By the Peace of Lhasa Zhang Que had abandoned the rightful position of the Gyalpo and worse had surrendered what had not been hers to give, for she had held the throne only in the name of her son. Many would judge her harshly for that. Others would question whether an authority that had to be defended by force of arms once every few years was really worth preserving, and if not whether it was perhaps best that the foreign princess had taken the humiliation on herself rather than force her son to suffer the same in time...
Zhang Que retires as regent, 18 March 961 AD.
Footnotes:
[1] Another member of the royal clan and also the court Gyner.
[2] Or as in this case his regent.
I admit my knowledge of China is not very high so it is great to get some insight there. At time of writing (961 AD in-uinverse) the Wei Dynasty is still going very strong.
