Chapter 231: You Wretched Old Codger Are Up to No Good

The commandery seat of Shanzhou was located in Huangshui County's county town, also called Shanzhou City. This was the core farming region of the Huangshui River valley, yet not a core strategic military node. In the parlance of Fang Chongyong's previous life, the total area here was less than 2% of Qinghai Province's total area, yet its arable land exceeded 56% of Qinghai Province's arable land!

Such an exaggerated contrast could only prove one thing: the Tibetans were determined to seize this place! And the Great Tang would absolutely never give it up!

Therefore, ever since the Kaiyuan era, after the Great Tang consolidated its military deployment in the Huangshui River valley, this area had been bristling with swords and spears, thick with soldiers.

Every household was a military household; any able-bodied man grabbed at random from the fields was a garrison-farmer soldier. Commerce was cut off, and martial virtue was abundant.

Centered on the Huangshui River valley, the Great Tang had installed a series of military garrisons at key transportation routes in the surrounding area, such as the Baishui Army, the Anren Army, the Heyuan Army, and so forth, all to prevent the Tibetans from breaking through from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau into the Huangshui River valley.

Then they also brought in the Lintao Army from the Lintao area, to be stationed in Shanzhou City as mobile forces, serving as a strategic trump card.

Perhaps due to adapting to local conditions, the yamen of the Longyou Jiedushi within Shanzhou City was built very large. Rather than calling it a government office, it would be more fitting to call it a military fortress, possessing formidable defensive capabilities.

Furthermore, nearly all the officials dispatched by the central government resided here, handling their duties and living in this place.

For no other reason than that Longyou was truly not safe, being too close to Tibet. If the officials from the central government did not live somewhere secure, any day a small group of Tibetans might sneak in and launch a surprise attack, and they would lose their heads without even knowing it!

How could anyone handle their duties well when hearts were gripped by panic?

Not only that, but a battalion of elite troops from the Lintao Army was also stationed within the yamen as personal guards, ready at all times to await the Longyou Jiedushi's orders. Although they were not called yamen guards, their personal treatment was only slightly better than that of ordinary Lintao Army soldiers.

But their function of protecting the Jiedushi's headquarters and handling urgent affairs was no different from the yamen guards of the mid-to-late Tang.

Fang Chongyong, who had moved into the Longyou Jiedushi Headquarters in the capacity of "Acting Longyou Jiedushi," could not help but sigh that the ancients' wisdom was truly extraordinary.

They were by no means the rigid, blockhead type; rather, they would fine-tune the court's policies according to local circumstances, making them better suited to local needs.

The emergence of the yamen guard system was also not formed for the purpose of Jiedushi rebelling against the central government. It was indeed closely related to the complex security situation in the border garrisons.

To cope with small-scale yet frequent conflicts, and from the standpoint of protecting their own safety, a Jiedushi did indeed need a capable and effective armed force that could be dispatched with a single word to get miscellaneous tasks done, without the need for convoluted troop deployment procedures.

Suppressing the various doubts in his heart, the next day Fang Chongyong, guided by Cen Shen, came to an ordinary courtyard in the residential area of the Longyou Jiedushi Headquarters to visit the "gravely ill and unconscious" Longyou Jiedushi Du Xiwang.

In fact, Du Xiwang was an honest and upright official who did not care much for pomp. This courtyard had been his residence ever since he came to Longyou. Du Xiwang could now only be considered "on sick leave," not exactly "driven out of the yamen."

In the courtyard, the Longyu region's Farm Director Li Jingyu and Revenue Director Zhao Zan, upon seeing Fang Chongyong arrive, hurriedly clasped their hands in greeting. Li Jingyu was fine, an old acquaintance; he had previously served as Farm Director under the Hexi Jiedushi, and Fang Chongyong had dealt with him back then.

It was just unclear why he had been transferred to Longyou.

This Zhao Zan, however, was absurdly young, no more than early twenties at most. To become Revenue Director at such a young age was comparable to Niu Xianke back in the day!

Clearly, this Zhao Zan either had extraordinary ability or extraordinary background, or perhaps both. He could not be underestimated.

Fang Chongyong silently noted these two men. Without batting an eye, he gave a slight nod and returned their greeting with great reserve, then accompanied by the two men entered Du Xiwang's bedchamber without a single word of small talk.

The moment he entered the door, a strong scent of herbal medicine assailed his face.

On the bed not far away lay an old man with graying hair and beard, looking somewhat frail. Beside the bed stood a middle-aged medical officer, who bowed upon seeing Fang Chongyong, his demeanor far more humble than that of Li Jingyu and Zhao Zan.

"How is Jiedushi Du's condition?"

Fang Chongyong asked softly, his expression calm.

"To reply to Acting Jiedushi Fang, Jiedushi Du occasionally wakes, but he cannot speak, and his mind is not very clear.

I have prescribed him a remedy, and his condition has improved slightly, but he still cannot attend to affairs, nor is he able to speak."

The medical officer said in a low voice.

Looking at Du Xiwang lying on the bed, Fang Chongyong sighed softly, then turned to clasp his hands in greeting to Li Jingyu and Zhao Zan behind him: "I wish to inquire in detail about Jiedushi Du's illness. Could the two of you go to the signing room and organize the revenue and expenditure ledgers for the Longyou area? Later, I shall speak with you both in detail."

Seeing him so courteous, Li Jingyu and Zhao Zan felt overwhelmed by the unexpected favor, and hurriedly returned the greeting, saying: "It is no trouble at all, we shall return to the signing room and organize the ledgers."

After speaking, they briskly withdrew from Du Xiwang's bedchamber.

After the two had left, Fang Chongyong looked at the medical officer with deep meaning. This military medical officer seemed frightened, and hastily begged leave to withdraw from the bedchamber, closing the door behind him.

And so only Du Xiwang lying on the bed and Fang Chongyong standing beside it remained, the atmosphere quiet yet tinged with a hint of eeriness.

"Jiedushi Du, your granddaughter Du Xuejuan, who served as a palace maid in the palace, was sent by His Majesty some time ago to my household as a servant.

I personally returned her to the Du family, intact and without the slightest violation.

I went to such lengths on your behalf, yet before I even arrived in Longyou, you old man had already dug a great pit for me.

For you to repay kindness with enmity, and still lie in bed feigning illness — that seems a bit ungrateful, does it not?"

Fang Chongyong said leisurely, a smile on his face as he looked at Du Xiwang lying in bed pretending to be ill.

His words had barely finished when Du Xiwang slowly opened his eyes, a mysterious smile appearing on his face. Without needing anyone's support, he actually sat up on his own.

Then he leaned against the head of the bed, his gaze burning as he met Fang Chongyong's eyes.

"This old man was indeed a bit dizzy at the time, but not to the point of passing out completely."

Du Xiwang said in a somewhat hoarse voice. Then he asked in puzzlement: "But Investigator Fang, having just arrived, how did you know that I was feigning illness?"

Du Xiwang admitted that there had been an element of gambling at the time, but this time he had gambled correctly!

If he had not feigned a faint back then, then the one wanting to cry without tears would be Du Xiwang, not Fang Chongyong!

A military funding hole that enormous — how could a worn-out old codger like Du Xiwang fill it? Even if he personally went to weave cloth and pedaled the loom until it smoked, he still could not fill it!

When the time came, Du Xiwang would surely be treated as a scapegoat and punished by the court, and then his head would be used to quell the fury of the Longyou border army.

What embezzlement of hundreds of thousands of strings of military funds, what the Du family's mansion in Chang'an occupying thousands of qing of land. To settle this matter, the court would throw every dirty trick they had at him. As for the truth, that did not matter. What the court needed was stability in Longyou, not some bullshit truth.

Du Xiwang had risen and fallen in officialdom for decades, and these tricks were already second nature to him. He might not throw dirty tricks at others, but how could he possibly let himself be duped to death without fighting back!

As long as I lay flat first, the sickle would cut others first, and could not cut me first!

Du Xiwang, an old fox who had grown shrewd with age, was indeed worthy of being a wily old coin who had served as a bureaucrat for decades.

"While I was still on the road, the Anren Army conveniently mutinied, and the Heyuan Army conveniently followed suit in demanding pay. Right at this critical juncture, His Majesty conveniently granted me the post of Acting Jiedushi, you old man conveniently passed out, conveniently fell ill from rage and were unable to attend to affairs, requiring the Acting Jiedushi to temporarily act in the Jiedushi's stead.

If only one thing were a coincidence, then I could only consider myself unlucky.

But with so many things happening to occur at the same time, and such a giant blame pot landing on the head of an uninvolved person like me — if no one behind the scenes was tossing the blame and playing dead, that would truly be a ghost story."

Fang Chongyong spread his hands and said quietly.

Seeing his scheme exposed, Du Xiwang's old face could not quite hold up either. He gave a dry laugh and explained:

"Here in Longyou, eating tomorrow's grain today, things were indeed getting untenable. It was not that this old man deliberately wanted to dupe you. It is truly that the problems are deeply entrenched and beyond remedy — whoever gets stuck with them is out of luck.

This old man does not enjoy your level of imperial favor, so I had to lay low for a while."

After speaking, Du Xiwang let out a long sigh. Many things he did not know how to express, yet he had no choice but to say them.

He was also in a difficult position.

"The Longyou border command is divided at Lanzhou. North of Lanzhou lies the trade route to the Western Regions; west and south of Lanzhou, everything is in short supply. The Sage must develop this region to guard against the Tibetans.

Yet every year vast sums of wealth are poured in, and still the Tibetans cannot be destroyed. This place is like a chicken rib—tasteless to eat, but a pity to discard."

Du Xiwang sighed with endless emotion and spoke to Fang Chongyong about the peculiar circumstances of the Longyou border defense.

The Great Tang's development of the Huangshui River valley and the area around Qinghai Lake, stationing heavy forces to confront the Tibetans, was in fact very poor in economic returns.

Local output fell far short of covering the consumption of the massive garrison.

There was no trade route here like the Hexi Corridor that could generate customs duties to subsidize garrison expenses. Merchants traveling from Guanzhong to Longyou went no farther than Lanzhou at most, then headed north to Liangzhou to take the Silk Road; they did not proceed to the Huangshui River valley.

The armies under the Longyou Jiedushi also had their defense line split into northern and southern sectors, which were relatively independent of each other.

But whether the northern or southern sector, they shared one thing in common: the lands to the west of the border, controlled by the Tibetans, were all barren wasteland. Aside from guarding against the Tibetans, the military towns had no side work they could take on.

The defense zone under the Longyou Jiedushi had a long front line, many troops, and enormous consumption—not to mention rugged roads, lack of water transport, and severed commerce. The Huangshui River valley was indeed fertile land, but its area was not large, and it could only produce grain and support grazing; it could not yield silk or cash crops!

Other than not being short on grain and livestock products, it was short on everything else!

After hearing Du Xiwang's introduction, Fang Chongyong was already numb.

He had never expected to hear any good news from Du Xiwang's mouth to begin with, and now his heart was completely chilled. Brother Ji's goals were grand, but given the human and geographic conditions of the High Tang era, there was no possibility of achieving them within a hundred years.

The Great Tang's current strategy was to expend vast manpower and materiel, confronting the Tibetans in the Huangshui River valley and the land of the Nine Bends of the Yellow River, pushing back and forth in close combat. Though the two nations were in a temporary peace, not a single fort or military town had been withdrawn.

It was plainly a temporary truce—recover from wounds first, then fight to the death later.

This place was continuously bleeding the Great Tang madly, and even more desperately consuming the Tibetans' already meager vitality, rapidly degrading the fragile ecology of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, so much so that the environment here would not recover for over a thousand years afterward.

Only by staking everything on a single campaign, fighting up onto the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, thoroughly destroying the Tibetan regime, and fundamentally consolidating their own rule locally—only by achieving these goals could the Great Tang reduce Longyou's military expenditures and cut the number of garrisoned troops.

Of course, given the governance capacity and military projection capability of the feudal era, this situation was completely unsolvable.

To reduce Longyou's troop strength, the Tibetan regime had to be destroyed;

To destroy the Tibetan regime, the powerful Tibetan army had to be defeated;

To defeat the powerful Tibetan army, troops had to be continuously reinforced in the Longyou region;

To sustain large-scale military operations here, the court's military spending had to be increased;

To raise more military funds, tax collection had to be intensified and infrastructure investment and maintenance reduced, making life harder for the common people across the Great Tang;

And when the people could no longer endure prolonged, high-intensity exploitation and oppression, they would inevitably rise in revolt and support rebel forces;

And once rebellions broke out, the Tang court would have no choice but to strategically contract, transferring troops from Longyou to suppress the revolts.

A vicious cycle—completely unsolvable.

From the perspective of a thousand years later, to completely destroy the Tibetan regime, one would at the very least have to wait until the warm period of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau had passed, or until firearms appeared, before there was even a theoretical possibility.

If Fang Chongyong told this view to others, he would only be mocked for boosting the enemy's morale and diminishing his own prestige.

It was just like people of the Tang dynasty looking at the bright moon—certain arrogant fools might believe that with a bit of "effort" they could enter the "Moon Palace," and that inventing a large rocket would let them fly to the moon.

But in reality, given the technological level of this era, humanity was still a hundred and eight thousand miles away from landing on the moon! The sheer volume of technological accumulation required was beyond the imagination of anyone alive at this time.

Because of ignorance, there was fearlessness.

So it was said that in this territory of Longyou, the Great Tang and the Tibetans' current mode of play was still a contest of endurance, a contest of national strength—only input, no output. And the Great Tang's peak had already passed; it was now visibly on a downward slope. How to manage Longyou was in truth a rather dilemma-laden proposition.

Advance, and the road runs out; retreat, and one fears being counter-killed.

"Jiedushi Du may continue to be ill. I will write a letter to the Sage and dispatch a trusted aide to escort Jiedushi Du back to Chang'an for treatment. Chang'an has many renowned physicians; they will surely be able to cure Jiedushi Du's chronic ailment."

Fang Chongyong said with deep significance.

Upon hearing this, Du Xiwang was briefly startled, then gave a wry smile and said:

"The troublesome affairs of Longyou will not drag down Censor Fang.

The Sage appointing you as Longyou Jiedushi Acting Successor was merely an accident and should not be taken seriously.

I can now write a letter saying that Gai Jiayun is courageous and takes responsibility, with outstanding ability. I feel I am old and ailing and may be unable to carry out my duties; if some sudden situation arises in the future and I cannot attend to affairs, then Gai Jiayun shall succeed to the post of Longyou Jiedushi and handle emergency military affairs.

Censor Fang need not worry. Your father is the Sage's trusted confidant; this time, no matter whose head gets cut off, it will not be yours."

Seeing that Old Du had no intention of setting him up, Fang Chongyong sighed softly and said:

"If only things were that simple.

Still, the letter of recommendation that Jiedushi Du just mentioned—please do write one. I will keep it in hand just in case.

Today, once Jiedushi Du hands the official seal over to me, you may return to Chang'an to enjoy your retirement. I will explain matters to the Sage myself, and I will also tidy up the situation here in Longyou.

If Longyou is not properly sorted out, then clearly there is no way to select elite troops from the border army, no way to fill the ranks of the Yinqiang Xiaojie Army.

The Sage treats the Yinqiang Xiaojie Army as his own talisman; there is no room for carelessness."

Hearing these words, Du Xiwang nodded slightly. He had already heard that Fang Chongyong had come to Longyou to recruit fierce warriors from the border army into the new imperial guard. The Longwu Army had participated in the mutiny launched by Zhongwang Li Heng back then, and its fate could be imagined without asking.

There were now many vacancies in the Chang'an imperial guard. Fang Chongyong, so young, had come to the border command as the emperor's trusted confidant to recruit brave men from the border army who had no connection whatsoever to Chang'an's powerful families, in order to counterbalance the local strongmen of Guanzhong.

That the other party did not want to scurry back to Chang'an in such disgrace was actually only to be expected!

Du Xiwang nodded and smiled: "That is fine. The Jiedushi seal is in the yamen's signing room; Jiedushi Fang may take it yourself."

He briskly got out of bed, sat at the desk, ground ink, and wrote a letter. He soon finished the letter of recommendation endorsing Gai Jiayun as the next Jiedushi, and handed it to Fang Chongyong for review.

A letter written several years ago might be detectable as to whether it had endured the ravages of time, but one written a few days ago would be completely indistinguishable!

Holding Du Xiwang's letter now, Fang Chongyong could shamelessly claim it had been written a month ago, and presumably no one would doubt it.

Because by that time, the "illness-feigning" Du Xiwang would already have returned to Chang'an, or be on his way back. When he next appeared in the eyes of outsiders, he would have "recovered" under the treatment of "Chang'an's renowned physicians," having escaped from the massive pit of unpaid military funds.

In this transaction, Fang Chongyong and Du Xiwang had each gotten what they needed! Afterward, no handles were left behind—clean and decisive!

Fang Chongyong tucked the letter into his sleeve, crossed his hands in a salute to Du Xiwang, and said: "Then Jiedushi Du, please take care of your health. I will now go to the signing room to collect the Jiedushi seal."

"Jiedushi Fang, take care on your way. This old man will not see you out."

Du Xiwang said unhurriedly.

Fang Chongyong withdrew from Du Xiwang's bedroom with a worried expression, but in his heart he was already bursting with joy! He had to admit, dealing with smart people was truly satisfying!

With the ultimate weapon in hand, he had already secured an invincible position in this contest of wits. Now it was just a matter of how to settle the situation!

Today there are still, votes coming!

(End of chapter)