Chapter 420

"Sui Yangdi was eventually appointed as the Governor-General of Jiangnan; after Yang Su quelled the rebellion, with heads rolling and the Jiangnan region silent as a winter cicada, stability was finally restored under Sui Yangdi's soothing measures."

"At that time, Sui Yangdi employed a series of gentle conciliatory tactics to briefly pacify the south, yet this did not last; to prevent a future split between south and north and to strengthen north-south connectivity, Sui Yangdi launched his first expedition south to Yangzhou, conscripting vast numbers of farmers to dig the Grand Canal, linking north and south, and touring Jiangnan."

Hearing this, Liu Rushi's eyes lit up. "They all say Sui Yangdi's journey to Jiangnan exhausted the people and drained the treasury, with massive construction projects undertaken merely for pleasure; was the true purpose actually to rule the south?"

Su Qiao nodded with a chuckle, saying, "Exactly; those are fabrications by others. It is true that considerable money was spent building traveling palaces such as the Eastern Capital and Jiangdu, but the primary purpose was still governance."

As he spoke, Su Qiao felt his throat go dry.

Liu Rushi, quick-eyed and quick-handed, immediately poured him a cup of tea.

Su Qiao lifted it and gulped it down in one go.

"So the truth of that first southern expedition was like that, but what about the second and third?"

Once Su Qiao had rested somewhat, Liu Rushi immediately pressed on with curiosity.

Su Qiao continued, "The second expedition was actually the same as the first, still aimed at maintaining the stability of the Great Sui dynasty and integrating Jiangnan culture; as I mentioned earlier, the Six Dynasties had been fragmented in the south for over four hundred years, while the north, due to the chaos of the Five Barbarians, had undergone cultural changes incompatible with the south."

"Only by merging the south and north can it truly be considered one nation; otherwise, with one being this way and the other that way, it would not truly guarantee national stability and great integration! Therefore, Sui Yangdi went south to Jiangnan a second time and, in the first year of the Daye era, declared that all regions south of the Yangtze and Huai rivers would be exempt from taxes for three years, and Yangzhou for five years!"

"This instantly won the goodwill and sense of identification of the common people in the south; afterward, he summoned the daughter of Chen Houzhu into the palace, pardoned the crimes of Chen Houzhu's imperial descendants, instead inviting them back and promising to employ them in important positions!"

"Ah? Buying hearts and minds?"

Liu Rushi blurted out involuntarily.

Zhu Di, sitting nearby, frowned.

Realizing belatedly, Liu Rushi quickly rose and said, "Your Majesty, please forgive this humble wife for speaking presumptuously!"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Di waved his hand, glared fiercely at Su Qiao, and said, "Enough; today we are just speaking casually, no need to be so restrained."

Su Qiao, having been glared at even more fiercely by Zhu Di, awkwardly rubbed his nose.

Had he not idly picked up the thread of conversation and spoken of Sui Yangdi's three expeditions to Yangzhou, he would not have revealed so much of the emperor's inner thoughts.

This was Su Qiao; had it been an ordinary person, they would have been beheaded by the Emperor long ago!

What Su Qiao said next became much more restrained.

"The second journey to Jiangnan featured magnificent processions to intimidate the Jiangnan gentry, just like the tours after Qin Shi Huang's unification; the purpose was the same: to intimidate all directions! He was honored by the Turks as the 'Holy Khan'! Additionally, he conciliated former-dynasty officials and royalty, bestowed favors upon the Jiangnan common people, all to firmly integrate Jiangnan into the Great Sui."

"As for the third time, there are several accounts." As he spoke these words, Su Qiao paused.

Zhu Di, on the contrary, became interested. "Oh? Besides the speculations found in palace secret histories, I have never heard of other accounts; speak quickly so I may listen as well."

Su Qiao took another sip of tea to moisten his throat and continued, "After the second journey to Jiangnan, the effect was obvious; Jiangnan was stabilized, and Yang Guang developed ambitions, namely to expand the empire's territory!"

"After a round of selection, he finally fixed his sights on Goguryeo, which had been relentlessly encroaching and nibbling away at the Central Plains' territory."

"Sui Yangdi failed in his three expeditions against Goguryeo, and the resulting exhaustion of the people and treasury caused the decline of the Great Sui, did it not?" Liu Rushi asked.

Su Qiao nodded in agreement, saying, "Exactly; previously, under Sui Yangdi's diligent governance, the Great Sui had already begun to soar, and its majesty had caused all vassal states under the four seas to bow and submit, achieving feats unmatched since Emperor Wu of Han! This made his heart swell with pride."

"He desired to achieve even greater accomplishments, to expand territory and become the unparalleled emperor of all ages; thus, he began to expend immense effort preparing for a long expedition against Goguryeo, yet he did not expect that his three confident expeditions against Goguryeo would all fail! This instantly shattered Yang Guang's proud heart; setbacks arose, and he plunged into a low point, becoming decadent!"

What Su Qiao did not say was that at the time of the failed expedition against Goguryeo, the great families actually had a hand in it.

At that time, Sui Yangdi's prestige was immense, his achievements considerable, and furthermore, he was not particularly friendly toward the great families.

A batch of Jiangnan great families was purged, causing many great families in the Central Plains to feel like rabbits mourning a fox.

When Sui Yangdi was on his expedition against Goguryeo, they stirred up quite a bit of trouble within the country.

One cannot say the failure of the three expeditions against Goguryeo was entirely due to the great families, but they did play some key roles in it!

"Three failures, exhausting the people and draining the treasury, consuming so much manpower and material resources, chaos throughout the land, and ambitious men began to stir; Sui Yangdi himself did not recover from the failures, but instead seemed to have become a different person, beginning to evade responsibility, shun court affairs, and hide within indulgence."

Liu Rushi pressed on, asking, "Then was his third journey to Jiangnan truly purely for pleasure?"

Zhu Di also looked at Su Qiao, wanting to hear Su Qiao's explanation.

Su Qiao nodded and then shook his head. "One account says Yang Guang truly went purely to relax and play; this is the most widely circulated account. The second is that he fled in a panic-stricken manner; with the north stirring uncontrollably, he could not suppress it, so he retreated to Jiangnan, planning to stabilize the region and launch a counterattack from there."

"There is also a third account, which is the least circulated!"

"What is it?" Zhu Di asked impatiently.

"The third account is that the third journey to Jiangdu transferred vast amounts of wealth to serve as capital for a comeback! The extravagance of traveling south on large ships was actually a cover for transferring wealth."

"Then which one do you think Sui Yangdi was?"

Zhu Di looked into Su Qiao's eyes and pressed on.

Su Qiao shook his head. "I believe the second and third are one and the same; he both transferred vast amounts of wealth and prepared for a comeback, only he did not expect the rebel forces to rise so quickly, resulting in his death amidst the chaotic armies before he had much time to react."

274, dividing administrative affairs!

Upon hearing Su Qiao's words, Zhu Di immediately wore a profound expression on his face.

"Su Qiao, what do you think the palace secret histories say?"

Su Qiao was momentarily stunned upon hearing this, then realized what was meant, widened his eyes, and said, "Could it also be speculating that Sui Yangdi hid a vast treasure in Jiangnan?"

Zhu Di nodded with a chuckle, saying, "Exactly; many people throughout the dynasties have searched for it but found nothing; I do not know why, but after you mentioned it today, I actually feel you might be able to find it."

"Your Majesty, you are making things difficult for me; so much time has passed, and emperors of all dynasties have not found it; by what virtue or ability could I find it!"

Su Qiao shook his head without hesitation.

Zhu Di thought about it and felt this reasoning made sense.

"Very well; when we return to Yangzhou, if there is time, we shall go and look; if we do not find it, so be it; I do not force the issue."

Forcing it would be useless!

Su Qiao muttered inwardly with a pout.

After wasting so much breath, the dishes had already been served.

A table full of specialty dishes was ordered, their fragrance filling the air; everyone's stomachs had long been empty, no one held back, and they immediately began to eat heartily.

After a delicious, hearty meal, everyone sat on chairs drinking tea to aid digestion.

In the afternoon, everyone toured Nancheng and Dongcheng, which they had not visited before, returning to the posthouse only at dusk.

Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng were so busy their feet were hitting the back of their heads, having absolutely no time to seek out Su Qiao.

So Su Qiao and the others had a thoroughly enjoyable day today.

However, tomorrow, Su Qiao would have to read the imperial decree and formally "report for duty."

After dinner in the evening, Su Qiao and Liu Rushi played chess in the courtyard.

It wasn't Xiangqi, but Go.

Su Qiao actually knew a bit about Go and had learned quite a few patterns.

However, most of them were learned from unorthodox sources online.

They were completely different from the orthodox methods!

He often played risky moves, found new paths, was both abrupt and underhanded, simply too sinister.

Liu Rushi was excellent at the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but against Su Qiao's bizarre techniques, she was truly headache-inducing.

"Master, who did you learn chess from? This style is truly a bit too bizarre, isn't it?"

Liu Rushi thought for a long time before coming up with that word.

Actually, what she really wanted to say in her heart was underhanded and shameless!

But fearing Su Qiao would get angry, she said the style was bizarre.

Among the Six Arts of a gentleman, horsemanship, archery, and the zither, chess, calligraphy, and painting were essential skills for Confucian scholars and students.

However, after the Tang Dynasty, horsemanship and archery among the Six Arts of a gentleman were gradually weakened.

It was mainly due to Han Qi's remark in the Song Dynasty, "Those who are announced as Zhuangyans outside the Donghua Gate are good sons," which caused more students to value the classics and their meanings.

And the Confucian scholars and students who could play chess also upheld Confucian thought.

Such things as uprightness and harmony, the Golden Mean, or being straightforward and honorable, and so on.

After being further poisoned by Zhu Xi and other toxic elements, there were truly more and more frameworks, and more and more constraints and dregs.

Liu Rushi, who always confronted others head-on, was truly very unaccustomed to Su Qiao's chess style that took a crooked path.

When Su Qiao learned Go, he simply didn't care about these things; top, sharp, join, rush, and various techniques, as long as he could win, he didn't care about the process.

Liu Rushi, who had never seen such a bizarre chess path, although her skill was slightly higher than Su Qiao's, quickly became flustered and disorganized.

After playing several dozen games, she helplessly threw down her stones and admitted defeat.

Afterwards, Liu Rushi, somewhat unwilling to accept it, continued to play two more games with Su Qiao.

The result was even worse than the first game; she lost faster and more miserably.

Finally, Liu Rushi really helplessly pouted and said, "Master, I admit defeat. I will absolutely not play chess with you again. Your chess style truly opened my eyes!"

Hearing the sarcasm in Liu Rushi's tone, Su Qiao didn't mind, smiling and saying, "Winning is the good method; the process doesn't matter!"

Early the next morning, Su Qiao got up early.