Chapter 266: The Banquet

At the end of the second month, the court issued edicts to Wu Jie and Zhang Jun, and upon receiving them, both men naturally set out in haste for the capital.

Among them, Zhang Jun came from Xuzhou, a journey barely half the distance of Wu Jie's, so he arrived early in the third month. He then received word that he was to wait until Wu Jie arrived before being summoned together, so he merely idled in the large residence he had purchased in the capital and sent out feelers for news.

In Dongjingcheng, especially now that the population had recovered to nearly four hundred thousand… when had news ever been scarce?

Thus, Zhang Boying had only to make a few inquiries, and everything he ought to know, ought not to know, true or false, all came to him.

And then, he began… opening his doors to receive guests!

That was right—Grand Defender Zhang suddenly threw open his mansion gates and set up a continuous flowing feast.

First, he entertained his neighbors from left and right, high and low alike, seating them solely by seniority and age within the village hierarchy: the elderly at the head, the younger ones below, while Zhang Jun himself sat only at the table for middle-aged men, and his nephews Zhang Zigai and Zhang Ziyi sat even further down.

For this round of hospitality, each table had no more than twenty dishes, all fresh spring vegetables, plus chicken, fish, meat, and eggs in generous portions. The wine served was a homemade blend brewed for village festivals, the kind called wax wine, brought out of the cellar in the twelfth month.

So on the first day, all the neighbors sang Grand Defender Zhang's praises.

On the second day, things changed somewhat. Zhang Boying continued the feast, this time inviting mid- and low-ranking officers from the various armies inside and outside Dongjingcheng. The number of dishes reached thirty, the level of a formal banquet, with a higher proportion of meat dishes. He also hired professional chefs to prepare two hearty courses per table: roasted lamb ribs and braised pork hocks. The wine was upgraded to the kind of good liquor sold in ordinary taverns.

In addition, a professional storyteller was brought in to perform before the banquet in the courtyard, regaling the guests with tales from *Journey to the West: Subduing Demons*.

On the third day, the feast continued, this time targeting mainly acquainted officials and scholars… Zhang Jun had spent a full four years in Huaidong, three of them as Military Commissioner, and he had dealings with no small number of civil officials. Though it was a sensitive time, many still came in person, guided by a clear conscience.

For this occasion, the number of dishes reached forty, a truly luxurious level. Every dish was prepared by skilled professionals hired for the purpose. And since the guests were civil officials and scholars, Grand Defender Zhang also specially engaged singing girls, set poetic themes, and had the guests compose verses. He then collected these poems and had them carved into printing blocks.

Naturally, the wine was also more refined.

On the fourth day, all of Dongjingcheng was watching, and the banquet proceeded as usual.

This time, the guests were local dignitaries and officials of proper standing from Dongjing itself, along with some well-known scholars. The number of dishes reached fifty, an extravagant sum. The wine was of a brand that could be named aloud. The head chefs were all renowned masters hired from the surrounding taverns and restaurants, and fully half the dishes were signature specialties of famous cooks.

Before the banquet, there was storytelling, singing, and variety plays; during the banquet, instrumental music and dance; after the banquet, acrobatics, pitch-pot games, and poetry.

By this point, it was already a grand formal banquet worthy of being recorded.

On the fifth day, the feasting continued without pause.

On this day, the guests were mainly Grand Defender Zhang's old comrades from the Western Army, former subordinates who had been promoted or transferred out of his command, and a few civil officials and scholars he had recommended or appointed. In other words, these were truly Grand Defender Zhang's "personal intimates and old associates."

Logically, at this level of banquet, he could have closed the gates and done whatever he pleased. But in fact, Zhang Jun still kept his doors wide open and arranged the banquet with perfect transparency.

The dishes remained at fifty, the wine and entertainment the same as the previous day, the chefs unchanged. But after the banquet, these personal intimates of Grand Defender Zhang were publicly bestowed with large sums of money and silk, and those of suitable age were each given a beautiful concubine to take home… For instance, there was one called Liang Jiaying, a Cantonese lad who had barely passed the lowest tier of the imperial examinations and worked reading official dispatches in the army. He had only come to Dongjing to deliver reports and was preparing to head south to assist Grand Defender Yue in suppressing a rebellion. Because Grand Defender Zhang had been his guarantor when he entered the Imperial Academy, he was invited along by chance. Countless people saw him emerge from Grand Defender Zhang's residence clutching money and silk, leading two beautiful concubines, and finally hiring a donkey cart to return dazedly to his lodgings.

This also stirred no small amount of envy.

On the sixth day, under the gaze and anticipation of all Dongjingcheng, the banquet continued. This time, the guests included Yang Yizhong and Liu Yan, the Commanders of the Imperial Guard; Blue Gui and Feng Yi, the Deputy Directors of the Eunuch Bureau; the sons of Grand Councilor Lü Haowen; Zhao Fen, the eldest son of Chief Councilor Zhao Ding; and several Commanders from inside and outside the city who arrived together.

At this point, even tables were abandoned in favor of individual trays. The number of dishes had lost all meaning. After every two rounds of toasts, a new round of dishes was brought. The wine was exclusively Blue Bridge Wind and Moon. Dozens of dancing girls performed in the courtyard… One wondered if Grand Defender Zhang understood the principle of "eight rows of dancers performing in the courtyard"?

On the seventh day, amid the expectations of the masses, Lü Haowen, Grand Councilor of Military Affairs; Zhao Ding, Chief Councilor of the Department of State Affairs; Deputy Chief Councilor Liu Ji; Military Commissioner Zhang Jun; Deputy Military Commissioner Chen Gui; Wang Yuan, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Camp; Wang De, Deputy Commander of the Central Left Army; and the two Imperial Fathers-in-Law, Wu and Pan, all arrived together.

At this moment, all of Dongjingcheng watched with extremely complex feelings a top-tier banquet that had not been seen in the city for a long time.

The banquet was divided into four stages… the so-called Initial Seating, Second Seating, Main Seating, and Resting Seating.

The Initial and Second Seatings were for fruit, each with two rounds of dishes, totaling four rounds: dried fruits, fresh fruits, candied fruits, and pickled fruits, eight varieties each.

Then came the Main Seating, the formal wine banquet, divided into fifteen rounds of wine cups. Each round featured a signature dish from a famous chef, accompanied by corresponding rituals, appetizers, and tea for rinsing the mouth.

After the fifteen rounds of wine cups came the Resting Seating, where the dishes became clearer—they were the forty dishes from the previous banquets.

The wine went without saying—all Blue Bridge Wind and Moon. As for the water, everyone now noticed that throughout the entire event, only water from a pressure well was used, with not a drop from springs or old wells.

On the eighth day, because all the previous guests had already arrived, Zhang Jun was brimming with confidence. He personally went to write the eighth invitation, but before he could finish, he received an invitation instead… His Majesty the Emperor sent Feng Erguan to deliver an invitation, asking him and Wu Jie, who had just arrived in Dongjing that day, to come to the palace for a banquet.

Zhang Jun was caught off guard but had no choice; he could only go immediately, filled with unease.

According to the invitation, this Commander-in-Chief of the Right Army of the Imperial Camp first rendezvoused with Wu Jie, Commander-in-Chief of the Rear Army of the Imperial Camp, at the Tongtian Gate in the north, and then followed Feng Yi toward Hanfang Garden.

Hanfang Garden, also known as Ruisheng Garden, was, as the name suggested, another piece of His Majesty's private property.

However, because this property was outside the city, it had been razed to the ground during the Jingkang Incident, leaving only a rough outline. Now, His Majesty had repurposed it as the venue for the Dongjingcheng Mini Cuju League.

The so-called Mini Cuju League was a new competition system established by the court based on last year's highly successful Cuju League. It divided the cuju matches into spring and autumn seasons. Starting in mid-spring of the third month, teams competed in regional round-robin tournaments for points and rankings. In autumn came the playoffs, where the top eight teams engaged in a series of elimination matches to determine the league's first place. His Majesty had even bestowed a special title for this: Champion. Finally, before the new year, the champions of Kaifeng Prefecture, Jingxi, Jingdong, and the Imperial Central Army would compete in the All-Under-Heaven Cuju Grand Tournament… At that time, His Majesty would personally award the waist token of the All-Under-Heaven Premier Cuju Team.

Returning to the present, the two military commanders suppressed their anxiety and followed Feng Yi into Hanfang Garden, turning into a vast cuju field shaped like a large cauldron… This, too, was reportedly designed by His Majesty, who always liked to occupy himself with such trivial matters… They then went straight up to the rooms within the uppermost tier of the venue.

This simple structure at the highest point, complete with viewing platforms, had a name: the Box. Because His Majesty had reserved a large central box facing south from the north, and assigned the boxes to the left and right to several chief councilors and the two Imperial Fathers-in-Law, every noble and official longed to have a box here.

As for today, it was not an official match day, but the day for the public auction of boxes before the official season began. There was only one exhibition match for entertainment. This so-called "auction" was a form of lottery-style sale very popular in the Song Dynasty, roughly equivalent to later bidding for purchase.

"Well timed!"

Outside the box, Yang Yizhong, dressed in plain clothes, stood solemnly with seven or eight burly men. They said nothing upon seeing the two arrivals. Inside the box, His Majesty the Emperor personally held the youngest Princess Yiyou, flanked by the two little princesses Fuyou and Shenyou, along with two Imperial Consorts and four or five attendants. Upon seeing the newcomers, he casually greeted them. "Sit down and watch a match. Wait for the auction results to come out."

The two men exchanged glances, could only step forward to bow to His Majesty and the two Consorts in turn, and then sat down with extreme caution on the platform outside the box.

The match seemed unremarkable.

Of course, it was also possible the match was fine, but no one's mind was on it… The two military commanders needed no explanation, and the two Consorts were also completely uninterested, each idly sitting with a little princess. His Majesty was entirely focused on amusing the youngest Princess Yiyou in his arms… Occasionally, there was some conversation, but His Majesty did not join in. Consort Pan, though more imposing, was constrained by the presence of the two outside officials and could not say much. The rest merely echoed.

And so, as a cuju match was nearing its end, Feng Yi pushed open the door and presented a sheet of paper. His Majesty, still holding the little princess, laughed and spoke: "These people, they claim to have fled south and back north, losing most of their property, yet they still manage to scrape together so much money… Boying, take a look with Jinqing."

Zhang Boying quickly took it and looked at it together with Wu Jie, and indeed, they were also impressed.

According to the paper, the various nobles interested in buying boxes at the Hanfang Garden cuju field had been bidding blindly. For nearly a hundred boxes, each was auctioned off one by one, with transaction prices climbing steadily—from as little as a few dozen strings to as much as several thousand strings. In the end, the total came to nearly fifty thousand strings! An average of five hundred strings per box!

Zhang Jun was fine, but Wu Jie, visiting the capital for the first time, was a complete bumpkin. He clutched the paper, looked around, and felt that these oddly shaped semi-open boxes weren't even worth five hundred coppers, so how could they sell for five hundred strings? He was momentarily stunned.

At the same time, Zhang Boying turned and laughed: "If Your Majesty had said so earlier, I would naturally have bid for a box close to Your Majesty's."

"I saved one for you," Zhao Jiu replied casually, then sighed. "But I didn't expect to collect so much money either… I only came to this cuju field twice. It was mainly designed by Chancellor Chen and built under the supervision of Grand Prefect Yan. Since it's my private property, I borrowed money from Imperial Father-in-Law Wu in my personal capacity to renovate it, spending a total of just over ten thousand strings. Before the season even starts, I've already made a net profit of forty thousand."

Zhang Jun listened quietly, then laughed again: "In your servant's opinion, if this cuju league keeps going like this, Your Majesty is bound to get rich… Not just the boxes—if you build some shops and taverns around Hanfang Garden and rent them out, the annual rent alone will be another fat purse."

Wu Jie, with his sallow face, suddenly caught on and nodded repeatedly.

"I'm even greedier than you think," Zhao Jiu continued, holding the little princess and laughing from his seat. "I'm also planning to set up cuju gambling for the Kaifeng Prefecture division, allowing a bet on every match…"

Zhang Jun was slightly taken aback and couldn't help leaning in to ask: "Your servant just thought of this, but Your Majesty… will the Councilors and the Censors allow Your Majesty to do this?"

"This kind of thing is unavoidable. If I don't do it, someone else will do it privately, and it will still end up a mess. Better to take a good name and run the bank myself. For instance, call it sealed gambling for the Northern Expedition, with all the bank's money going to military funds…" Zhao Jiu spoke with conviction, but soon shook his head. "But I also know the Censorate will never allow me to meddle in such matters. So, I plan to give the sealed gambling rights for the Kaifeng division, along with the property rights for the various cuju fields and the assets in the Jingdong West Road division, all to you, Zhang Boying."

Zhang Jun was stunned and lost color, while Wu Jie was utterly bewildered.

"No special meaning." Zhao Jiu, in plain clothes, saw the match end below and stood up, still holding the little princess. "The Jingxi one goes to Han Shizhong. If you set this up in Guanzhong, give it to you, Wu Jinqing, and Qu Duan. Yue Fei and Li Yanxian probably wouldn't want it."

Zhang Jun and Wu Jie were about to speak, but the match had ended and His Majesty had risen, so they had to set aside their thoughts for the moment, follow His Majesty's family out of Hanfang Garden, return to Dongjingcheng, and arrive at the palace in the afternoon… They entered through the Gongchen Gate in the north, turned through the Linhua Gate into the rear gardens, and finally came to a pavilion near a fish pond and mulberry grove inside the Yingyang Gate.

At this moment, the two Imperial Consorts led the three Princesses out through Yingyang Gate and into the rear palace to rest, while His Majesty the Emperor remained seated in the pavilion, then beckoned the two men to sit with him.

Wu Jie was still uneasy; this was truly his first time in Dongjing, and he understood nothing, nor had he had time to inquire about anything. Zhang Jun, however, knew that this place was the Emperor's favorite private retreat, and also the Emperor's preferred spot for private conversations with high ministers—he had even drunk wine here himself—and so he was slightly more at ease.

After a short wait, three jugs of wine were indeed brought forth, naturally the Blue Bridge Wind and Moon vintage, followed by several plates of seasonal fresh vegetables and home-style stir-fries, both meat and vegetable dishes, about a dozen in total... but among them there was neither chicken nor fish, presumably because the rear garden's breeding program had not yet gotten on track... Then His Majesty poured his own wine and began to drink, and directly picked up his chopsticks, officially commencing his banquet for the day.

Zhang and Wu dared not be remiss; they followed suit, yet could not relax in the slightest, which was also quite taxing.

However, after three rounds of wine and some polite conversation, His Majesty finally got down to business: "Do the two of you know why I summoned you here?"

Wu Jie immediately set down his chopsticks and nearly leaped up from his seat to kneel, but Zhao Jiu raised a hand to stop him, and he could only sit back down, facing him cautiously:

"I have heard that the Ministry of War has impeached my command, the Rear Army of the Imperial Encampment, for excessive depreciation funds."

Zhao Jiu nodded, then looked toward Zhang Jun: "And Boying? You arrived so early; surely you know more than Jinqing?"

Even so, Zhang Jun, who had been prepared all along, was momentarily at a loss for words.

Zhao Jiu, seeing this, could not help but chuckle lightly: "Is it hard to say, or do you know too much?"

Zhang Jun was awkward for a moment.

"Did someone tell you the court was going to launch a full-scale anti-corruption campaign in the military? Or that the Emperor was going to take away your military power over a cup of wine? Or that His Majesty Zhao Jiu had lured Wu Jie and Zhang Jun into the capital to place them under house arrest, and then purge the Rear and Right Armies of the Imperial Encampment?" Zhao Jiu said, laughing as he picked up some food with his chopsticks.

Wu Jie was momentarily dazed, while Zhang Jun finally opened his mouth, but still could not hide his embarrassment: "Your Majesty must forgive me. At that time, Your Majesty was unwilling to see me, and I had no choice but to seek out people everywhere to make inquiries, and thus I heard all sorts of nonsense."

"No matter." Zhao Jiu chewed and swallowed a mouthful of spring wild greens slowly before responding nonchalantly. "What's that? I've heard even worse—that an imperial decree had already been issued, that any official in the realm, civil or military, who embezzled more than ten strings of cash would be flayed and stuffed with straw, and displayed to the world as a warning... Don't tell me you haven't heard that one?"

Hearing this, Wu Jie and Zhang Jun relaxed and laughed despite themselves.

But then Zhao Jiu suddenly gave a cold laugh: "This is all because the high officials and nobles in the city have nothing better to do, so they think up ways to spread rumors and slander, hoping to attract my attention with such methods, and then beg for official posts and money... They don't know that I have long since made up my mind—I would rather see the nation perish than give these people a single coin of salary or reward. Not only that, I am now sending men to raid the households of those who have spread the most serious rumors, to confiscate their property for military funds."

The two commanders were instantly dumbfounded, for upon hearing these words, Yang Yizhong, who had been standing in attendance, gave a slight bow and then led armored soldiers straight toward Yingyang Gate.

"Boying." At this moment, Zhao Jiu suddenly looked at Zhang Jun again. "Did you actually believe those rumors? Is that why you put on that little show earlier?"

Now that things had come to this, how could Zhang Jun, having come to his senses, still try to hide it? He immediately stood up and bowed awkwardly: "Your Majesty must forgive me."

"If I had accepted your invitation today, how many courses were you planning to use to entertain me?" Zhao Jiu asked with great interest, pressing the question.

Zhang Jun grew even more embarrassed: "I had originally intended to find old servants from Grand Preceptor Cai's mansion to recreate the former Grand Preceptor Cai's household's regulation of one hundred and eighty dishes, but I never managed to gather them all. If Your Majesty had actually come, it would have been no more than a hundred and twenty or thirty dishes..."

"How could you possibly have gathered them all?" Zhao Jiu threw down his chopsticks and shook his head repeatedly. "During Grand Preceptor Cai's days of 'abundance and prosperity,' his household kitchen had a dedicated team just for making baozi—some rolled the dough, some pinched the pleats, and some even specialized in chopping scallions... That kind of extravagance was, first, utterly excessive, and second, it was a fleeting, illusory spectacle of splendor during the 'abundance and prosperity' era, when the whole realm was a roaring furnace of oil and fire—something that can only be encountered by chance, never sought."

"Yes." Zhang Jun finally sighed. "I was actually just looking for a gimmick; my main intention was to invite Your Majesty to my residence for a talk, and I had other matters to discuss."

"Naturally." Zhao Jiu shook his head even more. "In Xuzhou, you liked to convert all the cash and silk you accumulated into gold and silver as much as possible, and you would specifically melt the silver into large balls weighing nearly a hundred catties each, right?"

Wu Jie, listening from the side, was dumbfounded, while Zhang Jun, sweating profusely, could only leave his seat and kneel in the pavilion:

"Your Majesty is most perceptive."

"You still don't understand what I am seeking..." Zhao Jiu sighed. "You thought that by letting those people attend your banquet, I was tacitly approving of your actions, didn't you?"

Zhang Boying quickly explained: "I saw that Your Majesty was living so frugally and was already uneasy; I was afraid I had misinterpreted Your Majesty's intentions."

"You haven't always misinterpreted my intentions." Zhao Jiu shook his head. "That day on the Huai River, you did not misinterpret them... Boying, and Jinqing as well."

"Your servant is here." Wu Jie also quickly rose and knelt beside Zhang Jun.

"I advocate the doctrine of utility; I am barely a man of utility. And a man of utility, when faced with so-called structural contradictions, always thinks of disregarding propriety, righteousness, and shame in order to ultimately gain the greatest benefit..." Zhao Jiu clasped his hands and looked at the few dishes before him with a sigh. "The Western Army has long had a tendency toward becoming a feudal military governorship. I knew this when I was in Guanshanxi, and I reorganized and disbanded them, but once I left, they reverted to their old ways. I am aware of this, and I am deeply worried about it. As for Boying, you have always been greedy for wealth—an old habit of many years. You take advantage of land reclamation to seize land, you force your soldiers to build grand mansions for you every time you change garrisons, you pad the payrolls, you maximize depreciation funds, you accept bribes—I am well aware of all this, and I have long harbored dissatisfaction... There is no need to hide it. But my dissatisfaction and worry are not because I am suffering hardship here while you do as you please, and so my heart is not at peace. Rather, it is because you are, after all, commanders, and your troops are, after all, the main force of the Imperial Encampment. If you continue to squander things like this, then when the time comes for the Northern Expedition, if one side has no combat effectiveness and the other is intent on self-preservation, what then?!"

Zhang Jun and Wu Jie were each stunned, then looked at each other... Clearly, Wu Jie truly did not understand this Emperor, and Zhang Jun had grown too comfortable for too long and had misinterpreted his intentions.

"Otherwise? If we were really going to launch an anti-corruption campaign now, why not do it across the entire army? If we were really going to take away military power over a cup of wine, shouldn't we have summoned Han Shizhong first?" Having said this, Zhao Jiu looked at the dozen or so dishes on the stone table, and his tone gradually turned cold. "I summoned you here for only one sentence... If you can achieve merit in the future Northern Expedition, then the collusion in the Rear Army of the Imperial Encampment, and all those messy affairs of yours, Zhang Boying—even if I ultimately take some action, I will let bygones be bygones, because after all, we have all come through extraordinary times. But if the Northern Expedition goes wrong on account of your two commands, then don't expect to walk away cleanly by handing over money and resigning your posts, because I will make sure you get more than you bargained for!"

Zhang Jun and Wu Jie both felt relieved, but then were filled with fear again, and prepared to make their pledges together. Unexpectedly, His Majesty gave them no chance to speak.

"Get up and eat." Zhao Jiu said coldly. "After you finish eating, I will explain to you in detail how to forge these two armies into shape."