Chapter 24: Lantern Festival (Part One)

"Wang Wei, I heard your poetry is quite good. Looking at this majestic Zhongnan Mountain, do you have a fine piece?"

Li Longji ignored the bewildered Zhang Jiuling and, pointing at the snow‑capped peak before them, asked the somewhat listless middle‑aged scholar beside him.

In Fang Chongyong's previous life, Wang Wei was a historically renowned great poet.

But now, although his name rang through Chang'an and Luoyang, his official career was stalled; until last year he had been in a half‑assigned idle state. To reenter service, he had to write poems to Zhang Jiuling to seek an appointment.

Wang Wei may be a talented gentleman, but now he lacks spirit, qi, and vigor; even when accompanying the Son of Heaven on a tour, he shows no trace of joy.

"Taiyi nears the celestial capital, the linked mountains meet the sea's edge."

"White clouds return and converge, the blue haze enters unseen."

"Dividing the fields, peaks shift; shadows and clear skies make the valleys distinct."

"Seeking a place to lodge among people, across the water I ask the woodcutter."

Wang Wei gazed at the distant mountain and recited directly.

This poem can be said to astonish the ages!

Seven‑step poem? On‑the‑spot composition?

How could that be? A seven‑step poem still requires taking seven steps; how could anyone blurt it out like Wang Wei?

This was written by Wang Wei two days in advance after Zhang Jiuling told him that Li Longji would take the officials to tour Zhongnan Mountain! He actually had no intention of presenting it to Li Longji, but a family stood behind him.

Many vexing matters cannot simply be ignored at will. If he fails to seize the chance, the offended party will be not only Li Longji but also Zhang Jiuling, who has promoted him!

"Fine poem!"

Li Longji clapped and praised, his words sincere, not a pretense at all. As the Son of Heaven, he had no need to flatter Wang Wei.

Wang Wei bowed to Li Longji and said, "The sage has erred in praising me."

"Indeed it is a fine poem; you need not be modest."

Li Longji looked at Wang Wei with mixed emotions.

His own sister, Princess Yuzhen, was very fond of Wang Wei, but… fate gave no match. The reason Wang Wei was demoted from a capital post to the provinces earlier was mainly because Li Longji wanted to vent his sister's grievances.

Wang Wei returning home to marry without notice is simply absurd!

Now the anger has run its course; there's no need to keep harping on it. Even Princess Yuzhen no longer cares about this episode, and Li Longji thinks it's time to put an end to it.

Princess Yuzhen has long borne two sons by some man! So there's truly no need to cling to Wang Wei.

"The frontier towns now need talent; why not go to the Hexi Regional Military Governor's Office in Liangzhou and serve as an Inspecting Censor and Regional Judge?"

Li Longji sighed and said, thinking to himself that his sister's ill‑fated romance should end here.

This appointment is hard to call a promotion or a demotion.

Just as Fang Chongyong's despicable father Fang Youde once served as an Inspecting Censor, this is actually an example of someone in the court disliking him, fearing that, as a close aide to the Son of Heaven, he might wield power to push them out of the court.

Going to the Regional Military Governor's side as an Inspecting Censor and Regional Judge is essentially the emperor inserting a centrally‑appointed official into a fiefdom; the main purpose is to audit the accounts and see whether the Military Governor is misusing public resources.

The position appears weighty but is not. Holding a title and being dispatched are one thing; actually being effective is another. Central‑appointed officials who know little of local conditions and rashly intervene in governance will inevitably meet strong resistance and backlash.

Not to mention this person will be tightly monitored by the Military Governor's confidants in daily movements.

Such a job truly isn't something a poet‑only literary figure can handle well. In plain terms, Li Longji also understood the reality; doing this just lets Wang Wei idle at the frontier, a token gesture.

During the Kaiyuan era, the central Tang court's control over the Military Governors remained very tight; although military provisions were entrusted to the regions, weapons, treasure, and finances were still centrally controlled. This control was systemic and would not be overturned by the absence of one or two mid‑level Inspecting officials.

Of course, fundamentally Wang Wei's talent lies only in poetry; his political career left no remarkable achievements, so he could simply bide his time there.

Wang Wei's appointment to the Hexi fief may actually be Li Longji's way of removing him, using a "promotion with external transfer" to push him out and simultaneously block Wang Wei's career advancement.

As for the true reason, who knows?

"Thank you for the sage's grace."

Wang Wei's face showed neither sorrow nor joy as he bowed. It seemed respectful but was actually distant.

"Minister Zhang, what do you think of my appointment?"

Li Longji asked Zhang Jiuling with a lingering meaning, recalling that it was Zhang Jiuling who had recommended bringing Wang Wei from Luoyang back to Chang'an and appointing him as a capital official.

"Your Majesty decides with a word; I, your humble servant, have no objections."

Zhang Jiuling bowed and said, his brows slightly furrowed. He felt something was off but couldn't pinpoint it. Li Longji's words and deeds were unlike his usual manner.

"The Lantern Festival is just around the corner; this year's Lantern Festival must be properly organized."

After Li Longji finished speaking, he saw General Chen Xuanli of the 'Left and Right Flying Cavalry', one of the Northern Palace Guard, approach and whisper in his ear, then retreat to the side awaiting orders.

The Left and Right Flying Cavalry was Li Longji's personal guard; during the Kaiyuan era, the Southern Palace Guard, which had close ties to the outer court, had already waned. The former subordinate Chen Xuanli, a veteran of the old court, rose rapidly, his authority growing. Li Longji had once asked Fang Youde whether he would lead the Flying Cavalry, but Fang Youde declined.

"Return to the palace."

Li Longji coldly spat the two words, his eyes flashing with a chill.

…

The Son of Heaven's brief, indulgent tour of Zhongnan Mountain with his officials became a joke that no minister dared mock.

Such a seemingly inexplicable matter, Fang Chongyong and Zheng Shuqing's party could not possibly know. They were hurrying, crossing the Nanyang Basin, turning west into Neixiang County, preparing to take the Wuguan Road back to Chang'an.

However, upon reaching Neixiang County, they found that there was no post station!

It should be noted that this is the entrance to the Shangshan Road, the mandatory route into Wuguan. Tang poet Jia Dao described its peril as: "One mountain ends, another rises; in a hundred li there is not even half a li of flat ground."

All mountain paths, uneven and densely vegetated! Travelers clench their teeth as they trudge over a hundred li of mountain road; the experience is known only to those who have walked it.

Because the road is poor, horses cannot be ridden, nor can carriages be used, the authorities simply gave up and did not even establish a post station. After traversing this hundred‑li mountain road, a dense string of stations stretches all the way to Lantian!

It somewhat resembles a carp leaping over the dragon gate.

The court's stance seems to say: since it's a shortcut anyway, walk if you like; if not, get lost! There's no gate for a station to serve.

Zheng Shuqing, the pretentious official, faces a dilemma: walking over a hundred li of mountain road, what if he becomes exhausted and falls ill?

He is the man who will enter Chang'an to manage the court's accounts! The court is waiting for his rescue! Climbing and walking a lot lowers his prestige; those unaware might think they're fleeing disaster!

Thus Zheng Shuqing waved his hand and chose to rent a carriage from the county, go north from Nanyang to the eastern capital Luoyang, then detour to a water post in Shanzhou, and finally follow the official boat straight by water to Chang'an.

This is also the main official road to Chang'an, not only smooth but allowing continuous carriage travel.

The problem is only that the waterway from Luoyang to Chang'an seems not very easy to navigate.

But Zheng Shuqing, eager to return, thinks the water route is still faster; at most the stretch near Shanzhou, where the Yellow River flows a bit more swiftly and is slightly dangerous… at worst they can switch to land later.

Anyway, traveling on foot is impossible!

As a result, shortly after they reached Shanzhou, the Yellow River flood arrived. The party watched as the river water was filled with broken ice from the upstream rush; the small pieces were nothing, but the larger ice blocks were enough to smash ordinary boats, capsizing them and causing deaths.

They lingered at the Shanzhou post for a while, and Zheng Shuqing complained there that they should have taken the Wuguan Road originally. Of course, those are hindsight remarks.

After a long trek, on the Lantern Festival they traveled north from Nanyang to Luoyang, then took a carriage to Shanzhou and rested at Gantang Post outside the county town. The prolonged travel exhausted not only the children Fang Chongyong and Fang Laique and the official Zheng Shuqing who does no productive work, but even Yan Zhuang, who usually returns home to farm, was half dead with fatigue.

Only A Duan, accustomed to running in the mountains, felt nothing at all, even getting bored.

The journey was extremely arduous, yet they could not disobey Zheng Shuqing.

Not only because Zheng Shuqing is an adult and Fang Chongyong is still a child, but also due to an undeniable factor: Zheng Shuqing carries official clearance documents and proof of his official status.

Before returning to Chang'an to report, Zheng Shuqing remains, in name, the Prefect of Kuizhou. This title is extremely useful while traveling, allowing him to freely enjoy the conveniences of the post without paying.

Fang Chongyong, whose soul comes from the modern world, has naturally seen every grand scene and feels indifferent. But Yan Zhuang, a low‑level clerk who scrapes by, truly experiences the post staff's arrogance before him and their deference before Zheng Shuqing.

This dealt a huge blow to his pride.

In the Tang Dynasty, if you have no power, you are nothing!

This golden age belongs only to some people; if you have power you can join them, without power the age does not belong to you!

At dusk on the Lantern Festival, Zheng Shuqing's party arrived at the Yellow River bank; behind them the post began stringing lanterns and ribbons to celebrate the holiday, while ahead the Yellow River was frozen, silent, and under the setting sun the two formed a stark contrast, as if they stood on the boundary between life and death.

Aside from Fang Laique, a simpleton, and A Duan, who needs no contemplation, Zheng Shuqing and the others each have their own concerns and have no mind to enjoy the cold breeze and moon by the river.

Thus the group returned to the post hall, gathered around a table, poured Red Lotus Spring, and had the post staff bring in grilled Yellow River carp, drinking and chatting.

These carp were caught by nearby farmers who cut through the Yellow River ice; they are pricey. Even within the post, you can't get them without paying. Shanzhou is not far from Chang'an, and the post sees many high‑ranking officials; Zheng Shuqing's prefect title is not that useful, so he cannot "freeload" dishes beyond the standard official specifications.

Of course, if Zhang Jiuling or Li Linfu were here, it would be a completely different scene.

"Brother Yan, you are from Hebei; from your words it seems Hebei people harbor grievances against the court. I wonder what caused that?"

Fang Chongyong rubbed his hands while eating the carp and asked.

This Yellow River carp was grilled with a strong local flavor—rustic and fresh—but its taste was a bit heavy, not as refined as the "Chang'an cuisine" Zheng Shuqing once treated us to.

It only wins on freshness of the ingredients.

Yan Zhuang glanced at Zheng Shuqing, and the former prefect sighed: "Even if we stay within this house, saying it makes no difference. Guarding the mouths of the people is more important than guarding rivers; even if we keep silent, there are plenty of people who will speak."

Hearing this, Yan Zhuang nodded and said: "In the first year of Tongtian under Wu Zhou (696 AD), the Khitan tribal leaders Li Jinzhong and Sun Wanrong—both given Han names—were dissatisfied with the Wu Zhou Governor of Yingzhou, Zhao Wenhui, for his mistreatment of them, so they killed Zhao Wenhui outright and led their troops into Hebei."

Li Jinzhong and Sun Wanrong did not expect that their desperate strike would spark the spontaneous following of over a hundred thousand locals in Hebei; their forces quickly swelled from a few thousand to tens of thousands.

With Turkic assistance and at great cost, the Wu Zhou army took more than a year to suppress this 'invasion,' and even the famed general Wang Xiaojie fell in battle.

Since the losses were so great, after the Wu Zhou army eradicated Li Jinzhong's and Sun Wanrong's 'invasion,' the court naturally began to settle accounts in the autumn.

Thus the Wu Zhou Prince of He'nai, Wu Yi Zong, who was in charge of 'pacifying the rebellion,' submitted a memorial to the court, proposing to kill all the tens of thousands of people who participated with Li Jinzhong, Sun Wanrong, and the 'invasion of Hebei.'

Although Di Renjie and others strongly opposed it, and the court indeed never issued such an order… Wu Yi Zong's hand was not soft; the Hebei populace suffered countless deaths and injuries, anyone forced to defect from the bandits and return was deemed a rebel and executed, leaving many Hebei locales almost empty.

That was only a matter of more than thirty years ago; earlier events need not be mentioned, they are countless.

Yan Zhuang drained the Red Lotus Spring from his cup, eyes reddened, and self‑mockingly said: "I am a poor Hebei youth; without a patron I would never have tasted this Red Lotus Spring in my life. Such fine wine is only fit for a great figure like Lord Zheng."

Fang Chongyong gave a slight nod, looked at Zheng Shuqing and asked: "Is all this true?"

Zheng Shuqing hesitated briefly, then let out a long sigh, gave a slight nod and said: "The details may differ, but the overall picture is not far off."

He is a court official; many things cannot be spoken too plainly. The facts are there; many who lived through that event are still alive, so what is there not to say?

After hearing Yan Zhuang's account, Fang Chongyong felt that the Yingzhou Rebellion during Wu Zhou resembled a 'simplified version' of the An Lushan Rebellion.

Only:

At that time, land consolidation had not yet completely destroyed the foundation of the militia, and the court's control over the army remained firm.

Back then, aside from Hebei, the rest of the realm was generally stable, taxes were lighter, and private savings were considerable.

At that time, Chang'an's population had not yet swelled to today's level, and the importance of the Grand Canal was not as urgent as now.

Back then the court's army handled matters fairly well, lacking the chaotic maneuvers of Li Longji during the An Lushan Rebellion.

But the Yingzhou Rebellion always carried a particularly strong, sloppy flavor reminiscent of the An Lushan Rebellion—border towns in Hebei rebelled, Hebei peasants joined, and it grew like a snowball!

From the Yingzhou Rebellion to Pei Yaoqing's seven‑million‑shi grain shipments, most of which came from Hebei, these events are merely the tip of the iceberg. Hebei people's hatred for the Tang court runs deep, passed down generation after generation, growing heavier each year.

The mutual dislike between Hebei and the court is now the best outcome. Yet Li Longji and the court still strive to squeeze Hebei to death; nothing going wrong would be a strange miracle!

"Lord Zheng, when you become a Tax Officer, you should levy fewer taxes on Hebei."

Fang Chongyong gave a helpless wry smile.

"Are you stupid? A Tax Officer only manages how the court uses tax revenue; how the taxes are collected isn't up to me. Besides, I'm not a Tax Officer yet! You'd better speak to the sage directly."

Zheng Shuqing couldn't help but retort sarcastically.