Chapter 343: The Fake Tang Through Tao Gu's Eyes

This imperial council meeting was not attended by many people—only Yang Bin, Wang Zhang, Feng Dao, Guo Wei, Wang Jun, Wei Renpu, Fan Zhi, and Wang Pu, plus Tao Gu and Wang Qiwu who had returned to court.

Ten men in total. From the names of these ten ministers alone, one could tell that the council's standing was extremely high. Regardless of official rank or social status, these were all ministers whom Liu Chengyou deemed qualified to access the Great Han's core strategy—men who could offer counsel on the southern campaign and set an example for others.

Even though Liu Chengyou's dissatisfaction with Yang Bin had long since settled into a placid indifference, he still did not deliberately exclude him. After all, on the surface at least, Yang Bin remained the Great Han's chief minister. The rites between sovereign and subject, the distinctions of rank and station—these were precisely what Liu Chengyou wished to re-establish.

Furthermore, not a single general commanding troops directly was seated at the meeting, including the heads of the Palace Command and the Imperial Guard Command, Shang Hongqian and Bai Wenke. The southern campaign across the Yangtze was still a secret of the Great Han. In this matter, the imperial army's generals needed only to perform their duty of commanding troops and, under the Son of Heaven's will, make preparations for the southern campaign.

When Liu Chengyou arrived with the two ministers Tao and Wang, he excused the assembled ministers from formal obeisance and took his seat. The great doors of Chongzheng Hall were slowly pushed shut by the palace eunuchs working together, transforming the court assembly into a secret deliberation and lending the imperial council an air of mystery.

Tao Gu, after all, was the principal envoy—whatever the circumstances, the report should come from him. He rose, made a properly measured bow all around, and said: "Your Majesty, honored lords!"

"Your servants traveled south this time and lingered near Jinling for nearly two months. By imperial command, we observed in detail the affairs of that state. In your servant's view, the false Tang is truly a great enemy of our dynasty. We must not underestimate it merely because it sits in the southeast corner with weak people and feeble soldiers."

Under the gaze of Liu Chengyou and the assembled grand ministers, Tao Gu felt his spirits especially roused. His beard trembled slightly as he spoke at leisure: "The Southern Tang was founded over thirty years ago, passed down to its current sovereign Li Jing. Its foundations are already firm, and the people's hearts have turned to it..."

Tao Gu had barely finished one sentence when a man in the hall cut him off without mercy: "If I remember correctly, when the Tang's late founder Li Bian established the false Tang, it was the second year of Tianfu of the former Jin (937). That is a mere thirteen years ago. Where do 'over thirty years' come from?"

Wang Jun straightened his back and sat upright in the hall, his expression stiff and his mood apparently poor. The reason could probably be discerned from his seating position—too many people were seated ahead of him.

Given Tao Gu's temperament, facing such a face-slapping challenge from the Deputy Commissioner of Military Affairs put him in a bad mood as well. But considering Wang Jun's power and position, which he could not afford to offend for the time being, he said nothing more.

Still, Tao Gu's face remained perfectly calm, and in his heart he even felt some contempt. In Tao Gu's view, the men who now occupied the high seats of the Great Han's court—men like Yang Bin, Wang Zhang, Guo Wei, and Wang Jun—were mostly short-sighted and crude of vision.

He had even anticipated such a "foolish" question. Smiling toward Wang Jun, Tao Gu said composedly: "What Deputy Commissioner Wang says is correct. However, most people only see that the false Tang has been established for thirteen years, yet few notice that before the Xu replaced the Yang in the south and the Qi supplanted the Wu, starting from Xu Wen, his father and son across two generations spent twenty years seizing the power of Yang Wu, placating the old ministers, cultivating their partisans, and buying the people's hearts. Only then did Li Bian, as if riding the current, turn a family into a state—and high and low accepted it as sweet as honey."

"Therefore, although the Southern Tang obtained its state in the second year of Tianfu, the foundation of its enterprise was laid during the time when Xu Wen and his father and son served as chancellors of Wu. We must never grow careless because its dynastic span has been short!"

Tao Gu's mouth went from Li Bian to Xu Wen, from the Qi state to Yang Wu, from father and son to the false Tang... It rather smacked of showing off. Wang Jun's knowledge of Southern Tang history was only rough at best, but he more or less understood, and for a moment he was stunned, unable to refute.

Glancing at Wang Jun, whose face bore a look of deep grievance, Liu Chengyou gestured to Tao Gu: "Minister Tao, please continue."

"Yes!" Bowing respectfully to Liu Chengyou, Tao Gu continued unhurriedly:

"Your servant does not flatter—the false Tang's late founder Li Bian was truly a hero of his age. He held military and civil authority over Jianghuai for over twenty years, managing it with painstaking effort. He pursued a policy of halting warfare and giving the people peace, lightening corvée and reducing taxes, encouraging farming and sericulture, promoting merchants, and maintaining harmony with neighbors. He revived the imperial examinations, established academies far and wide, educated the people, and vigorously attracted scholars, causing literary culture to flourish throughout Jiangnan. The cultured elite of the Central Plains, fleeing south, all flocked to him in submission."

"It was precisely such cultivation that made the false Tang's national strength surpass all the separatist states of the south. Jiangnan is rich in produce—grain, salt, tea, silk, paper. All crafts flourish. The people have grain to eat, land to till, and houses to live in..."

"Li Jing is clearly not the equal of his father. Yet since succeeding to the throne, he has followed his father's policies. Four years ago he sent troops to destroy Min and gained over half its territory, and now surrounds his old enemy Wuyue on three sides. Today the false Tang holds Huainan, Jiangdong, Jiangzuo, and Min lands—thirty-five prefectures in all. Its population exceeds five million, no less than the Great Han. It fields over a hundred thousand troops, perhaps even more than the Central Plains."

"Therefore, the false Tang is truly a great enemy of the Great Han—one that must not go unexamined!"

When Tao Gu finished, the hall fell silent for a long while. All those present seemed lost in thought. After waiting a moment and seeing that Liu Chengyou had not spoken, Yang Bin's eyes flickered and he said in an unfathomable tone: "Minister Tao's harvest from a trip to Jinling wouldn't happen to be nothing but a string of praise for the false Tang, would it? The very thought makes this old man's teeth chill!"

Wang Jun was someone Tao Gu did not wish to offend, and facing Yang Bin's sarcasm, Tao Gu dared even less to provoke him—especially before the throne.

Though he snorted coldly in his heart, Tao Gu bowed to Liu Chengyou and said with solemn words: "Your servant merely reports the true condition of the false Tang to Your Majesty, so that Your Majesty may devise strategies and plans, and avoid insufficient consideration or inadequate preparation."

Having said this, Tao Gu wore an expression of having more to come, gazing at Liu Chengyou.

"Though We covet the false Tang's wealth, We have never underestimated its national strength!" Liu Chengyou raised a hand, effectively endorsing Tao Gu. But his gaze shifted away from Tao Gu and turned to Wang Qiwu, who sat calmly in the last seat: "Everything has its strengths and weaknesses. Since Minister Tao speaks of its might, I wonder what Minister Wang has to say?"

Liu Chengyou was clearly giving Wang Qiwu a chance to shine. Seeing this, Tao Gu felt a surge of jealousy. He knew well that what he had said before was secondary—the words to come were the real point. He wished to speak, but opened his mouth and let it turn into helplessness. In the arts of currying favor, Tao Gu was very careful and very clever, and he dared not interrupt casually, especially on such an occasion.

Inside the hall with its doors tightly shut, the dim light drew the atmosphere toward "intrigue."

Under Liu Chengyou's gaze, Wang Qiwu rose. His face showed neither sorrow nor joy, unhurried, and he first expressed a measure of agreement and affirmation for Tao Gu's remarks: "Your Majesty, what Minister Tao has said is all true! The false Tang's prosperity is indeed the greatest under heaven. As the saying goes, 'Yangzhou first, Yizhou second'—in today's world, when it comes to national wealth, aside from the Western Shu that Meng Chang has managed for over a decade, no other power in the realm can match it."

"However..."