Chapter 667: Zhao Pu Reports on His Mission

"Also send people to investigate the Huai East matter. I want to know the true situation! How many people are involved, and whether anyone in the capital is implicated—I want to know all of it!" Summoning Li Chongju, Liu Chengyou wore an expression of authority without anger, speaking with cool detachment.

Upon receiving the order, Li Chongju remained steady and capable, wasting no words. He clasped his fists and said: "Yes! Your servant will make arrangements immediately!"

"Wait!" Liu Chengyou waved his hand, pondered briefly, then said: "Conduct the investigation in secret—do not draw anyone's attention!"

"Yes!" Only a single thought flashed through Li Chongju's mind as he acknowledged.

Regarding this Huai East corruption case, although Liu Chengyou had summoned several chief ministers and thrown his weight around, he ultimately handed the matter down to the Ministry of Justice and the Censorate for investigation and disposition. Under these circumstances, Liu Chengyou did not intend to create additional complications; as for mobilizing the Wude Office, he merely wanted to add an extra layer of insurance.

Judging from the current state of the Huai East case, the Transport Commission, the Inspection Commission, and even the Censorate all seemed to have some problems. How could Liu Chengyou not take this as a warning? The key issue was that these three offices had all been established or reformed by Liu Chengyou himself, deeply stamped with the mark of his imperial reign. When such a major case emerged, regardless of what others thought, at least in Liu Chengyou's eyes, it was an injury to his prestige and face.

"How many agents does the Wude Office have deployed in Huai East?" Liu Chengyou asked.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, there are 67 agents of various ranks in total, including 12 elite operatives among them, up to and including the Chief Inspector!" Li Chongju answered without hesitation.

"Too few! They need to be expanded!" Liu Chengyou looked at Li Chongju and instructed: "I don't need complete surveillance—that's unrealistic—but at the very least, when there's the slightest stirring, we should be able to detect it!"

"Your servant understands!" Li Chongju remained as composed as ever.

"Go."

"Your servant takes his leave!"

"Your Majesty, the Supervising Secretary and Vice Minister of Rites have returned from their mission to Shu and await your summons in the palace to report!" Amid Liu Chengyou's restless mood, Zhang Dejun came forward to announce.

"He's back?" His spirits lifted somewhat, and Liu Chengyou immediately ordered: "Summon him!"

Shortly after, Zhao Pu, in an impeccably neat official robe, entered the hall with steady steps and knelt in obeisance.

"Rise, Minister Zhao!" Liu Chengyou appraised Zhao Pu, his gaze sweeping over him, and said with a light laugh: "It seems Chengdu nourishes a man well!"

After the trip to Shu, Zhao Pu had visibly grown plumper and rounder. Facing the emperor's teasing, Zhao Pu was somewhat embarrassed, but still said frankly: "While in Chengdu, your servant feasted at a small banquet every three days and a grand one every five. The Shu sovereign and his ministers entertained me warmly, and after a dozen or so days, my body naturally put on weight!"

After the peace treaty was concluded, Zhao Pu had lingered in Chengdu for some additional days—nominally for sightseeing, but in truth for intelligence gathering. Largely to show off their strength and dispel any notion of a future Han army campaign against Shu, Meng Chang had taken the initiative to review his troops in the suburbs, bringing Zhao Pu and his party along. Little did he know, this only revealed his own unease.

"It seems the talks went quite pleasantly! Otherwise, why would Meng Chang and his ministers treat you so generously?" Liu Chengyou remarked.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Pu produced a memorial and presented it to Liu Chengyou, saying: "Through discussions between your servant and the Shu chancellors Li Hao and Wu Zhaoyi, we have reached a total of four articles of peace. Please review them, Your Majesty!"

Taking it, he opened and examined the details of the peace agreement, and a smile involuntarily curled at the corners of his mouth—an expression of satisfaction. Of course, what Liu Chengyou cared about was only the itemized annual tribute; nothing was more substantial than that.

Closing the document, Liu Chengyou looked at Zhao Pu and said warmly: "Minister Zhao has truly lived up to his mission. This counts as windfall wealth, but for the Great Han, it is no small sum. Your service on this mission to Shu deserves great commendation!"

Facing the emperor's praise, though joy showed on Zhao Pu's face, his words remained humble: "Your Majesty, your servant dare not claim the credit. That this agreement was reached is due, first, to Your Majesty's awe-inspiring authority; second, to the bloody battles and hard fighting of the Great Han's soldiers; and third, to the fact that the Meng Shu sovereign and ministers have lost their will and grown weak and easily bullied."

"It seems Minister Zhao's trip to Chengdu yielded no small harvest!" Hearing Zhao Pu's words, Liu Chengyou appeared quite intrigued. Seeing that Zhao Pu was still standing, he ordered a seat and tea to be provided, saying: "Tell me of what you saw and heard in Chengdu!"

"Yes!" Seating himself respectfully, Zhao Pu organized his thoughts briefly, then began to narrate with composure.

"... After presenting the state letter, your servant wandered through the markets of Chengdu. The situation was indeed as the Wude Office had reported: due to the Shu court's additional levies, the people were restless and the populace uneasy. The price of a dou of rice had risen to twenty-four wen, and whenever new grain appeared, it was often snatched up in a frenzy. The outer city wall of Chengdu spans nearly thirty li, embraced by two rivers, with convenient transportation.

The Shu court has built a rampart wall around Chengdu on a grand scale, constructed in Meng Chang's early years for defense, spanning nearly fifty li. However, much of it is damaged. When your servant arrived, I discovered the Shu court was mobilizing corvée labor to repair it."

"I've heard that when grain prices in Shu were at their lowest, a dou of rice cost only four or five qian. Now it's multiplied several times over!" Liu Chengyou remarked.

"In the past two years, to shore up defenses in Qinfeng, Shu's grain and funds were largely transported north. But the overland routes were inconvenient, and the transport of a million dan of military grain incurred enormous losses. Afterward came successive major defeats and urgent military situations—all grain in the country was prioritized for the border garrisons. Combined with profiteering merchants, Chengdu's grain prices have remained stubbornly high. When your servant was returning to the capital, I suggested that the Wude Office agents in hiding secretly connect with Shu merchants to continue driving up grain prices..." Zhao Pu said.

Hearing this, Liu Chengyou said: "Zhao Pu, you seem to think the livelihoods of Chengdu's common folk aren't difficult enough!"

Clearly noticing the hint of a smile at the corner of Liu Chengyou's mouth, Zhao Pu responded: "From what your servant observed along the way into Shu, because of Meng Chang's benevolent policies in his early years, many Shu people still hold him in grateful memory. But no amount of kindness can overcome the need for food and clothing. When the people's livelihoods grow difficult, their morale naturally deteriorates—which will benefit our dynasty's future acquisition of the Two Chuan.

Otherwise, even if we take Chengdu in the future, the court would still need to expend far greater effort to eliminate Meng Chang's influence and win over the people's hearts. At present, the Shu sovereign and ministers are ruining their own dynasty's fortunes. Your servant merely suggested adding fuel to the fire!"

Nodding, Liu Chengyou gestured for him to continue.

"The Shu chancellors Li Hao and Wu Zhaoyi jointly hosted a banquet for your servant. I attended. In the Li residence, there were dozens of bright lamps, hundreds of bolts of colored silk, and at the feast, a hundred dishes of delicacies. The serving attendants, maidservants, musicians, singing girls, and dancers numbered over a hundred. The extravagance and ostentation were staggering..." Zhao Pu described. "To win me over, Li Hao and Wu Zhaoyi even presented me with two thousand bolts of silk!"

"Truly a generous gift!" Liu Chengyou couldn't help but click his tongue.

Noting Liu Chengyou's gaze, Zhao Pu hastily explained: "The silk I received has been brought back to the capital with me and will be offered entirely to the imperial treasury!"

To say he wasn't tempted by such a vast fortune would be a lie. However, Li and Wu's single gift of two thousand bolts was so lavish that Zhao Pu simply dared not keep it for himself.

Liu Chengyou did not refuse Zhao Pu's gesture of goodwill but accepted it with pleasure, and teased: "I hear several Shu women accompanied you north. You must have enjoyed quite the romantic fortune this time!"

His heart jolted at the words, and Zhao Pu made to rise and defend himself. Seeing his somewhat nervous expression, Liu Chengyou waved his hand and said: "No matter. I know that on this trip, you couldn't avoid playing along and going through the motions!"

"Thank you for Your Majesty's understanding!" Zhao Pu breathed a sigh of relief.

"As for those Shu women—since they were gifts from others, just accept them. Don't spurn their goodwill. Keep them in your household; consider them my reward for your trip to Chengdu!" Liu Chengyou laughed. "I hear Shu women are delicate and charming—mind your health!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty! Your Majesty jests!" Though the emperor was joking, Zhao Pu only grew more cautious.

Once the jesting ceased, Zhao Pu went on to describe the situation within the Shu palace, especially the banquet scenes in the Crystal Palace, his tone still carrying a note of lament: "I've heard that building the Crystal Palace by Lake Moke took a full year and a half in total, and the grain and funds expended could match the losses of the campaigns in Qinfeng and Hanzhong."

Hearing this, Liu Chengyou also couldn't help but sigh: "With the dynasty's fortunes failing, Meng Chang and his ministers still indulge in such extravagance—how could they not perish? No matter how deep one's family foundation, it cannot withstand such squandering!"

"Additionally, your servant also discovered that the contradictions within the Shu court have already grown extremely acute!" Zhao Pu added.

"Tell me more."

"The main conflict is the political struggle between chancellors like Wu and Li on one side and Commissioner of Military Affairs Wang Zhaoyuan on the other. Wu and Li favor peace, and this treaty was pushed through largely by their efforts. Wang Zhaoyuan, however, opposed it throughout, even refusing Meng Chang's invitation to attend the imperial banquet. Meng Chang has already grown displeased!" As Zhao Pu spoke, he also recounted Wang Zhaoyuan's remarks and attitude toward this peace agreement.

After listening, Liu Chengyou remarked with feeling: "We once scorned Wang Zhaoyuan as undeserving of his reputation—ambitious but impractical, a mere armchair strategist. Yet now it seems that throughout the Shu court, this man has the most backbone?"

"It's merely political strife!" Zhao Pu said. "Li, Wu, and the others actively fawned over your servant. I suspect they are not lacking in Wang Zhaoyuan's foresight—it's just that given the situation in the realm, they are seeking a path of retreat for the future."

"So you're saying that after the peace treaty, Shu's political situation will become even more chaotic and turbulent?" Liu Chengyou murmured.

"Exactly!" Zhao Pu's tone was certain.

Liu Chengyou nodded in satisfaction, then suddenly said: "You mentioned the 'Hibiscus Consort'?"

Zhao Pu was taken aback, somewhat surprised—discussing matters of state and military affairs, and the emperor suddenly brought up a woman. But upon the question, the image of that peerlessly elegant figure surfaced in his mind, and he said: "Meng Chang selected women of beautiful countenance and graceful figure to fill his harem, calling them 'hibiscus blossoms.' Among them, Consort Hui, née Xu, was the most outstanding. The Crystal Palace was also built by Meng Chang to enjoy pleasures with her!"

"Heh heh!" Liu Chengyou chuckled lightly. "She sounds like a peerless beauty capable of toppling cities and nations? If the opportunity arises, I should like to see her for myself..."

"And the Shu envoy?" Liu Chengyou asked again.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, he is resting at the guest lodge for now!"

"Summon him!"