Chapter 359: The Realm Is Shaken

New Year's Eve was approaching again. This was Zhang Zhao's seventh year since arriving in this era, and it was now the third year of Tianfu of the Later Jin, 938 CE.

That year, Xu Zhigao changed his name to Li Sheng, changed his state's title to Tang, and was known to history as the Southern Tang.

Shi Jingtang formally ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun to the Khitan. Yelu Deguang issued an edict making the imperial capital the Supreme Capital, elevating Youzhou to the Southern Capital, and making the Southern Capital the Eastern Capital.

And in four more years, the child-emperor Shi Jingtang would die in depression and humiliation, and the great upheaval of the divine land would begin.

Zhang Zhao, in Liangzhou, had just completed the greatest undertaking for all the sons of Tang in Hexi and Longyou: unifying the seventeen prefectures of Hexi and Liangzhou.

The Later Jin's envoys Lu Dao and Liu Tao had also returned to the Central Plains. Once Zhang Zhao and Shi Jingtang finished their negotiations, the household registers and maps of the eighteen prefectures of Hexi and Longyou — minus the three prefectures of Cheng, Wu, and Qin, but with the four prefectures of Yin, Xi, Hui, and Yuan added — would be handed over to the Central Plains court.

Since the second year of Dazhong under Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, 848 CE, when Zhang Zhao's great-grandfather Zhang Yichao rose in arms to overthrow the tyranny of the Tibetans,

in ninety years, the great cause of the sons of Tang in Hexi and Longyou — after many twists and turns, to finally return to their homeland — was about to be completed in Zhang Zhao's hands.

This was also why, even though Shi Jingtang was a shameless child-emperor, Zhang Zhao still honored the Central Plains court: the return of Hexi and Longyou to the nation was an obsession in the hearts of all the peoples there, especially the descendants of the sons of Tang.

The Zhang family of Shazhou had risen on this cause and used it to unite hearts. Even a transmigrator like Zhang Zhao had to rely on this great cause to unite and lead the various peoples under his command.

What he, Zhang Zhao, honored was not Shi Jingtang the child-emperor, but the Central Plains court — the great cause, the legitimacy, and the determination to return to the homeland. As for who sat on the throne, that was not so important.

The persona Zhang Zhao was now crafting for himself was not that of a warlord carving out his own territory, but that of a loyal minister of the nation who emerged from the mire unstained.

Of course, as a loyal minister, returning the eighteen prefectures of Hexi and Longyou to the nation was the concrete embodiment of loyalty to the state.

Then submitting a memorial to personally criticize the sovereign's faults was also the duty of a great loyal minister like Zhang Zhao.

And so, at the very time Shi Jingtang formally ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun to the Khitan, Zhang Zhao submitted a memorial that was earnest in wording but fierce in emotion.

In the memorial, Zhang Zhao stated: "The Khitan were once subjects of the great Central Plains dynasty. Though they have suddenly grown powerful, they are still barbarians. The Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun are the foundational territory of the nation and must absolutely not be handed over to the Khitan.

Taking Yelu Deguang as a father is a private matter for Your Majesty (Shi Jingtang); ceding the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun is a public matter.

I, Prince of Wuwei Commandery and Grand Military Governor of Hexi and Longyou, absolutely dare not concur with this act of selling off territory. I beg Your Majesty to retract the order.

If the Khitan threaten us with force, I am willing to raise a hundred thousand elite soldiers of Hexi and Longyou and march out through the Hetao to honor the sovereign and expel the barbarians!"

Once this memorial came out, the whole realm responded. Within the Later Jin, powerful figures such as An Zhongrong, Liu Zhiyuan, and Yang Guangyuan all piled on, all saying they would honor the sovereign and expel the barbarians.

This turned Shi Jingtang's face green. He could only hurriedly send Liu Zhiyuan out as Military Governor of Xuzhou and marry his daughter, Princess Chang'an, to Yang Guangyuan's son Yang Chengzuo to placate them.

As for An Zhongrong, whose words and actions were the most extreme, he placated him on one hand while preparing to campaign against him on the other.

Outside the Later Jin, Meng Chang of the Later Shu, Li Sheng of the Southern Tang, and Qian Yuanguan of Wuyue all took the opportunity to submit memorials or send letters to Shi Jingtang, clearly opposing the cession of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun.

This left Shi Jingtang extremely passive and embarrassed. Looking through the emperors of the Central Plains, even a foolish ruler like Emperor Hui of Jin had never been so utterly despised.

But by this point, the Khitan had in fact long been occupying or winning over the powerful local magnates of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun step by step. Whether Shi Jingtang agreed or not, it no longer mattered.

That year, the Central Plains dynasty lost for the first time the two crucial barriers of the Yan Mountains and the Yin Mountains, and the gateway to the Hebei lands was thrown wide open.

The land that had once produced the powerful provinces of the Weibo yabing guards and the Silver Spear Effectively Loyal Command began to face steppe cavalry constantly, and would never again regain its former strength.

In the Daning Palace of the Eastern Capital, the harried Shi Jingtang, Sang Weihan, and others were in discussion.

Liu Zhiyuan and Yang Guangyuan had been placated, and An Zhongrong had been dealt with through a two-pronged approach.

The Later Shu and Southern Tang were purely using Shi Jingtang to farm prestige, and could be ignored for the time being.

As for Qian Yuanguan of Wuyue, he was also easy to handle. Wuyue's strength was weaker than the other military provinces. Since the time of Qian Liu, they had humbly served the Central Plains court and had not established an independent state, but rather, like Zhang Zhao, honored the Central Plains as their sovereign.

What Qian Yuanguan sought in this memorial was also simple. In the Later Tang years, due to an envoy issue, the Later Tang court and Wuyue had some friction.

Although An Chonghui was later executed and the Later Tang court returned the substantive and honorary offices of King of Wuyue and Grand Marshal of All Armies Under Heaven to Qian Liu,

after Qian Liu passed away, Qian Yuanguan had not received these offices from the Later Jin.

So Shi Jingtang immediately had Sang Weihan order someone to draft an edict, promoting Qian Yuanguan to King of Wuyue, Grand Marshal of All Armies Under Heaven, and other positions, and sent envoys to his door to placate him. That should settle it.

But in the end, when it came to Zhang Zhao, Shi Jingtang, Sang Weihan, Shi Chonggui, and the rest of Shi Jingtang's inner circle did not know how to handle him.

Because besides this memorial opposing the cession of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun, Zhang Zhao had also raised two major matters.

One was the return of the eighteen prefectures — Gua, Sha, Yin, Xi, Gan, Su, Liang, Lan, Shan, He, Min, Kuo, Wei, Tao, Die, Qin, Hui, and Yuan — to the nation.

The other was the matter of Li Shengtian requesting enfeoffment with the four territories of Anxi, Khotan, Shule, Suyab, and Ningyuan, a million subjects, and ten thousand li of territory.

These two matters held an allure for Shi Jingtang that had reached an unsurpassable degree.

He had sold off the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun, and the whole realm despised him. But if he could have the return of the eighteen prefectures of Hexi and Longyou and the enfeoffment request from Anxi and Khotan, he could divert attention while enormously enhancing his prestige.

But at the same time, Zhang Zhao's appetite was enormous. The first issue was that in the return of the eighteen prefectures of Hexi and Longyou, Zhang Zhao had included Qinzhou.

It must be understood that although Qinzhou belonged to the original Longyou Military Governor's jurisdiction, it was currently territory held by the Central Plains court. Kang Fu was the Military Governor of the Xiongwu Army in Qinzhou.

Zhang Zhao's inclusion of Qinzhou among the eighteen prefectures made his meaning very clear: he was demanding that Shi Jingtang hand Qinzhou over to him as well.

But Qinzhou was different from other places. The Xiongwu Army alone had a troop quota of over ten thousand, with a population of over a hundred thousand, and moreover it belonged to the Guanzhong region.

If Zhang Zhao obtained Qinzhou, it would be like having a hand to pry open the gateway to Guanzhong.

And once Zhang Zhao had Qinzhou, Chengzhou, which originally belonged to the Longyou Military Governor, and Wuzhou, now called Jiezhou, could not be held either.

With the three prefectures of Qin, Cheng, and Jie, Zhang Zhao could even establish a certain line of contact with the Later Shu.

Furthermore, while Zhang Zhao indicated he could contribute eight hundred Hexi elite cavalry to the court, so that Shi Jingtang could to some degree free himself from Yang Guangyuan's coercion,

he hoped to receive a thousand artisans of various trades — blacksmiths, stonemasons, carpenters, and the like — in exchange, and also hoped that when Hexi recruited various talents from the Central Plains, the court would provide assistance.

Finally, there was the marriage between Murong Xinzhang and Shi Jingtang's fifteenth youngest sister-in-law, Princess Yongle. Zhang Zhao hoped it could be settled as soon as possible, and that after the marriage, the two could return to Hexi.

It must be understood that Murong Xinzhang had been in the Eastern Capital for nearly a year. With his wide circle of acquaintances and lavish spending, he had already established the image of Hexi people as bold, generous, and chivalrous among the people of the Central Plains.

If he could also bring Princess Yongle back to Hexi, that would greatly enhance the prestige of Zhang Zhao, the princess's father-in-law.

The group racked their brains in the Daning Palace, and the conclusion they finally reached was that they could only agree.

Because Zhang Zhao's three conditions, in the long run, were harmful to Shi Jingtang, since they would cause Zhang Zhao's prestige to soar and allow him to reach a hand into Guanzhong, which would surely become a great threat in the future.

But for Shi Jingtang, he was currently harried, with domestic opposition rising on all sides, and he still had to raise silk, cloth, salt, sugar, and tea as tribute to the Khitan.

He also had to balance the various powerful military governors to preserve his own position as Son of Heaven. His room to maneuver was not large.

What Zhang Zhao could give him — whether the return of the eighteen prefectures in terms of great cause, or the practical matter of Hexi elite cavalry guarding the imperial palace — was exactly what Shi Jingtang urgently needed. Not to mention that Shi Jingtang still owed Zhang Zhao several hundred thousand strings of cash.

In the end, faced with reality, Shi Jingtang had no choice but to bow his head.

Once such a thing has happened once, it will happen a second time. Bowing his head to the Khitan was one thing, but bowing his head to Zhang Zhao did not seem quite so hard for him to accept.

Before agreeing to Zhang Zhao's demands, however, Shi Jingtang secretly ordered Kang Fu to move the Tianxiong Army and the residents of Qinzhou inland as much as possible, leaving Zhang Zhao only an empty shell of a Qinzhou.

Then he had the Xiongwu Army and the residents all settled on the territory of the Fengxiang Military Governor, thereby strengthening Li Congyan's power.

Thus on the surface, Shi Jingtang, citing merit in pacifying the Guanzhong rebellion, promoted Prince of Qi Li Congyan to Prince of Qin.

He also transferred the two thousand men of the Left Longwu Army, controlled by Li Congyan's younger brother Li Congchang, back to Fengxiang Prefecture. As Li Congchang had just died of illness, this was done under the pretext of escorting his coffin home, giving the recently routed Fengxiang army a chance to recover.

This was meant to rely on Prince of Qin Li Congyan, the Fengxiang Military Governor, to oppose Zhang Zhao!

What Shi Jingtang never calculated, however, was that the old fox Kang Fu had long since taken Zhang Zhao's money and had secretly promised a granddaughter to Zhang Zhao as a concubine. How obedient he would actually be — only heaven knew.

As for Li Congyan, although Shi Jingtang knew from An Shenqi's reports that he had been badly beaten by Zhang Zhao's Guiyi Army, he had no idea just how badly Li Congyan had been beaten.

If he had known that Li Congyan had been beaten by Zhang Zhao to the point of losing all heart and courage, he would have understood that using Li Congyan to oppose Zhang Zhao — using one military province against another to deal with the Guiyi Army — could hardly be expected to produce good results.

Liangzhou, the residence of the Prince of Wuwei Commandery. On New Year's Eve, Zhang Zhao was watching song and dance.

Dancing gracefully in the center was a beauty with a slender figure and features as fine as a painting.

She wore a fiery red brocade skirt, her dancing soft yet firm, and her beautiful eyes kept glancing toward Zhang Zhao on the main seat, clearly very pleased with him.

Her eagerness was so intense that even an old hand like Zhang Zhao, who already had a pile of women, found it a little hard to withstand. He could only pretend to converse with Li Shaozong, who was drinking beside him.

"Cousin Shaozong, Seventh Cousin's temperament is still as fiery as when she was young!"

Li Shaozong — the brother of the dancing Li Xiuyun and son of Li Cunhui's father — flushed slightly at these words.

His sister was peerlessly beautiful, and her figure went without saying, but her temper was a bit too spicy. Ordinary men simply could not handle her.

"Great King still remembers things from childhood?" Li Shaozong narrowed his eyes, with the manner of an elite salesman.

"That was so many years ago. She has long since become refined, proper, demure, and gentle. If not for her constant vow to marry only a hero of the realm, she would have been carried off long ago by fine young men of great clans who wore down our doorstep."

"Really?" Zhang Zhao was highly doubtful. Given Li Xiuyun's family background, coming to Zhang Zhao as a concubine — essentially no better than a servant — was not exactly something to be proud of.

Was Li Shaozong truly willing to send his own sister over just like that? And with the look of a man afraid Zhang Zhao would not accept her?

Li Shaozong was about to say that it was absolutely true, but as his eyes lifted, he saw his sister already walking straight toward Zhang Zhao, and at once felt something was wrong.

"Cousin Great King, back then I played tricks on you — surely you haven't kept that in your heart? How about this: take me home as your wife, and you can play tricks on me every day!"

As she spoke, Li Xiuyun even blinked, which instantly brought to Zhang Zhao's mind the image of a mischievous little pepper.

Hiss! This one truly did not seem so easy to handle — daring to love and hate from childhood, bold and fiery.

Uh! Li Shaozong grew even more embarrassed. He had just finished saying his sister was demure and gentle, and now she had come up to sell herself.

At that moment, Cui Huxin, who was on guard duty outside the door today, walked in holding a piece of silk cloth covered in writing.

Zhang Zhao had Guo Tiance take it and look. It turned out to be a message sent back by Murong Xinzhang.

Shi Jingtang had agreed to Zhang Zhao's conditions and would even grant Zhang Zhao a princely title.

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