Chapter 412: Whose Heavenly King Are You? (Two Chapters Combined, 7,400 Characters)

When Zhang Zhao established his own Great Dynasty of Western Han, Jinshan, and Great Liang, and sent his proclamation throughout the realm, Meng Chang in the Brocade Official City was nursing a headache of his own.

What had this Xingtai old-timer's head aching was none other than the pack of arrogant soldiers and fierce generals his father Meng Zhixiang had left behind.

Although six years earlier Meng Chang had ruthlessly executed the Secretariat Director Li Renhan and exterminated his entire clan, frightening another overbearing old minister, Li Zhao, into kneeling and begging for his life,

it had not served as much of a deterrent. Instead, it allowed the remaining men — Zhang Ye, Zhao Tingyin, and others — to divide up Li Renhan's power and resources, making them all the more arrogant and lawless.

At this time, Meng Chang had only just acquired Lady Fei of the Flower Stamen. Although Shu was rich and fond of extravagance, Meng Chang was still a hot-blooded young man who wanted to make something of himself.

His ability was not necessarily great, but at least he had the heart of an enlightened ruler. He did not sit on the imperial couch keeping thousands of palace women, tossing out flower-money as if visiting a brothel, nor did he use seven-treasure vessels as chamber pots.

At this moment, upon receiving Zhang Zhao's proclamation, Meng Chang's heart surged as well. He turned to the Chief Minister Zhao Jiliang beside him and said:

"This Zhang Zhao, though he too comes from an old family, returned to the nation with eighteen prefectures and can be counted a hero among men. It is a pity that the Zhang family, buried in barbarian dust for a hundred and fifty years, long ago lost its spirit.

If I were him, I would never call myself Western Han, Jinshan, and Liang, nor style myself a remnant of the Great Dynasty. With tens of thousands of iron cavalry in hand, he should do as Zhang Gui and Lü Guang did — proclaim himself emperor, dominate the northwest, and plot for Guanzhong!"

Zhao Jiliang heard this, turned and glanced at Meng Chang, then cupped his hands and said with great formality:

"This is precisely the difference between Your Majesty being a ruler of a divided corner, and the King of Liang bearing the realm in his heart, with the ambition to swallow heaven and earth!"

That one sentence made Meng Chang extremely uncomfortable, and he could only laugh awkwardly.

This Zhao Jiliang had assisted both father and son, helping Meng Zhixiang seize the Two Chuan, and had rendered great service.

After Meng Zhixiang died of illness, it was again Zhao Jiliang who kept the death secret, gave his full support, and placed Meng Chang on the throne.

Moreover, he was neither greedy nor cruel and was utterly loyal. That Meng Chang had been able to kill Li Renhan and gain a firm footing was thanks in large part to Zhao Jiliang's aid.

So even when he bluntly scolded Meng Chang — his sovereign, barely twenty-one years old — to his face, Meng Chang could only smile apologetically.

"The venerable Dezhang has never met the King of Liang. Why do you say he has the ambition to swallow heaven and earth?"

"May I ask Your Majesty: what is the reason the realm today is ceaselessly at war, with military disasters never ending?" Zhao Jiliang asked in a clear voice.

Meng Chang's spirits lifted — this one I know well! He had heard people around him talk of it until he was sick of it.

"Naturally, it is because in the two hundred years since the Great Dynasty declined, no family in the realm has had the strength to unify the land.

That is why war rages on all sides and the people cannot live. A place as stable as our Great Shu is already extremely rare."

Zhao Jiliang shook his head, and only after a long silence did he speak. "To say the reason is that no one has had the strength to unify — that is true, but it is only the surface.

The deeper reason is simply this: since the Great Dynasty's decline, the court has handed all local military, administrative, fiscal, and civil power to the Military Governor alone.

The Military Governor in turn relies on the support of the yabing officers below him; the yabing officers are in turn coerced by the junior officers below them; and the junior officers must win over the rank-and-file yabing guards at the bottom.

This has led to all the realm's wealth being completely monopolized by this class of military men — Military Governors, yabing officers, yabing guards, and junior officers.

They have no ability to govern the country, and cannot even lay hands on sufficient wealth for themselves. Apart from plunder, they have no other recourse.

When the situation is at its worst, the Military Governor is nothing more than a tool pushed forward by the yabing officers and yabing guards to make money for them. Once the governor fails to bring in money, his very life is at risk.

Thus it cycles on and on. The military men swell until they reach the heavens, with eyes only for wealth and goods, with no loyalty, filial piety, integrity, or righteousness. The whole realm has no order — only the blade."

At this point, Zhao Jiliang stood up, and despite his somewhat frail body, looked at Meng Chang with great solemnity.

"In former years, Zhu Quanzhong and the Emperor of the Ancestral Temple were both heroes of the realm. Both had the ability to unify the realm, yet both fell to this divided blade.

That seat in Luoyang and Bianliang — how is it the seat of the Son of Heaven? It is only the seat of the greatest Military Governor in the realm!

That is why Zhu Quanzhong gave up on himself in his later years, and why the Emperor of the Ancestral Temple, unwilling to accept it, tried to use the actors and palace attendants around him to seize the military men's power, and ended up dying a miserable death at Xingjiao Gate.

I have heard that in the Liang Kingdom there is no office of Military Governor, and that a Prefect may only govern the people, not command troops.

The King of Liang binds himself with the great righteousness of serving the Great Dynasty loyally, and then uses loyalty and righteousness to bind the hands of the soldiers and officers below him. He surely has the will to end this age of chaos.

That is why he will not set himself up independently as Your Majesty, Wu-Tang, and the Han Kingdom have done.

He sent his proclamation throughout the realm, took enormous risks, and humiliated the Lord of Jin so thoroughly that he lost all face. All of this is nothing more than to give himself a reasonable pretext for seizing the two military provinces of Lingwu and Dingnan.

For the sake of reputation, to dare to go so far and take such risks — what he seeks is very great indeed!"

Zhao Jiliang's speech stunned Meng Chang. For Zhao Jiliang had always enjoyed the reputation in Shu of being the Zhang Liang of Shu.

In former years, he had devised strategy for Meng Zhixiang to defeat Dong Zhang, and had also offered plans to repel the Later Tang's punitive expedition. No one could match his vision.

Though he was upright to a fault and often offended Meng Chang with his words, Meng Chang still knew his ability.

Seeing Zhao Jiliang now praise Zhang Zhao so highly made Meng Chang's heart tremble.

"If this King of Liang truly has such great ambition, as the Grand Guardian says, then my Shu Kingdom borders the Liang Kingdom — how should we respond?"

Zhao Jiliang looked at Meng Chang approvingly. At this time, Meng Chang still had a clear head and knew his own measure, unlike later, when fine clothes, rich food, fine horses, and perfumed carriages would befuddle his mind.

"I originally supported Your Majesty sending troops to seize Fengxiang and even Guanzhong. That was because the Lord of Jin is without virtue, and it is already hard enough for him to cling to life. If I advanced into Guanzhong with Shu's elite troops, he would be helpless to stop it.

But now, the Great King of the Liang Kingdom to the north has great ambition. The iron cavalry of Liangzhou and Shuofang are not something we can oppose.

If we send troops, we would be blocking the Liang Kingdom's road east, and would instead place ourselves on the chessboard of the Liang-Jin struggle. That must absolutely not be done.

Better to hold Jianmen Pass tightly and await Heaven's timing. The King of Liang may not necessarily succeed, and even if he can, it will not be accomplished in five or eight years.

If Your Majesty rests and recuperates, treats the soldiers well, Shu will become a world of its own, sufficient to protect itself."

Meng Chang slowly nodded, but in his heart he had formed a plan different from Zhao Jiliang's.

In Shu now, his own words, Meng Chang's, had only about thirty percent effect; the rest was held in the hands of this batch of old ministers.

Since Zhang Zhao of the Liang Kingdom had already risen, then should not he, Meng Chang, holding such a rich and powerful state, all the more reorganize his army, gird himself, and strive upward?

If he could gather all power to himself, with Shu's wealth he could support fifty thousand elite troops. Then no matter who entered the Central Plains, they would have to watch his expression.

If Zhang Zhao's proclamation was like a stone cast into the relatively calm waters of Meng Shu, Southern Tang, and the other states, then in the Central Plains court it was like a bomb going off.

The Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, beside the newly built Imperial Academy.

Since the strict ward-and-market structure of the Sui and Tang had been broken, the construction of the Eastern Capital was developing at a speed that even those in power could not have imagined.

Compared to the grandeur, majesty, and solemnity of Sui-Tang Chang'an and Luoyang, the Eastern Capital undoubtedly had far more of the bustle and vitality of the marketplace.

Today was the birthday of Li Gu, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices Assistant and Kaifeng Judge. A crowd of Later Jin court civil officials close to him had gathered at Li Gu's residence to celebrate.

The celebration, however, seemed rather shabby. The wine was cloudy, the vegetables ordinary. Only before each person was a roast chicken, roasted golden and crisp, looking quite delicious.

Although civil officials at this time did not receive much salary and held even less status, they would not have been reduced to such shabbiness. The main reason they kept it so simple was Shi Jingtang's illness.

Ever since Yelu Deguang and Zhang Zhao had sworn brotherhood, and Shi Jingtang had gained yet another humiliating "uncle," the Child Emperor had fallen ill.

Never mind that he was nearly fifty and had already tumbled from the imperial throne vomiting blood — even the fact that he had been sick for months, sometimes better and sometimes worse, easily led people to conclude that he did not have much time left.

In this age, whether noble or base, a man who lived to fifty was considered to have died a natural death.

Therefore, with Shi Jingtang so gravely ill, civil officials like Li Gu certainly did not dare throw lavish banquets.

Whether or not they would be punished was one thing, but if they attracted one or two arrogant army officers who used it as a pretext to come extort money, that would also be troublesome.

At the banquet, though the wine was cloudy and the dishes plain, everyone still drank with great relish.

None of the people attending this gathering held very high offices.

Liu Tao was merely a Bureau Director in the Bureau of Operations; Xue Juzheng was only a Salt and Iron Inspection Officer; the brothers Li Zhao and Li Chao had barely just reached posts as Bureau Directors in the Ministry of Works.

There was also that unlucky fellow Fan Zhi. Historically, he had ridden Sang Weihan's coattails to a flourishing career.

But now, Fan Zhi's work drawing up laws for Zhang Zhao in Hexi had been discovered by Sang Weihan, so how could Sang still recommend him for office?

That Shi Jingtang had not had him beheaded with a single stroke was already an act of extraordinary mercy.

"A cup of cloudy wine, home ten thousand li away; the Yanran inscription not yet carved, no plan for return. Qiang flutes drone on, frost covers the ground; no man sleeps — the general's white hair, the soldier's tears."

At the table, the host Li Gu beat time on a bowl with his chopsticks and sang out Zhang Zhao's famous lines. Everyone present was among the finest civil officials of the age, and naturally they could hear the brilliance of the poem.

"Doctor Li, I hear that your eldest son, young as he is, has something of Bai Letian's manner in poetry. Why not have him come out and offer his appraisal of this lyric?"

When Li Gu finished singing, he said with a smile to Li Zhao, the Right Grand Master of Palace Counsel.

Li Zhao had originally been childless, and so had adopted his brother Li Chao's son, Li Fang, as his own.

Though the boy was only fifteen this year, he was already a famous child prodigy in the Eastern Capital of Kaifeng. His poetry imitated Bai Juyi and had much of the Tang dynasty's charm.

"The boy is young and shallow in learning. With all you men of high talent present, how could it fall to him to offer criticism!"

Li Zhao hastily waved his hands in refusal. What a joke — the man who wrote this poem had just angered the Son of Heaven in Daning Palace so badly that he was bedridden. How would Li Zhao dare let Li Fang come out and critique it?

However, Li Zhao's words had thoroughly offended Li Fang, who had come along with the fathers to see the world.

He was not yet the wily old fox who would later navigate the politics of the Later Han, Later Zhou, and Northern Song courts and earn the posthumous name Wenzheng.

At once, the young boy muttered in some defiance: "This lyric has both an ancient air and the spirit of the present age. Its tonal patterns are fully mature. Though I do not know how the melody goes, it already has the manner of a master.

What I do not understand is how, with Hexi's literary culture utterly extinguished, the King of Han could have written such a sublime lyric."

By sheer coincidence, the company had fallen into a brief silence at that moment, and everyone heard Li Fang's words.

As for this "Pride of the Fisherman" that Zhang Zhao had plagiarized — well, the lyric was a fine lyric, but no one believed Zhang Zhao had written it.

Because no one believed that in Hexi, where even speaking Han Chinese was a minority affair and one could not find a handful of scholars in all eighteen prefectures, anyone could produce such a fine lyric.

In an instant, all eyes turned to Fan Zhi.

Fan Zhi was on the verge of tears. He now deeply regretted having enjoyed the satisfaction of Zhang Zhao's courteous treatment of worthy men, and having coveted Zhang Zhao's money, goods, sugar, and tea, and having drawn up laws suited to Hexi for Zhang Zhao.

As things stood now, if not everyone considered him Zhang Zhao's confidant, at the very least he could not escape the association.

As for this "Pride of the Fisherman," many people had also pinned it on Fan Zhi, believing he had ghostwritten it for Zhang Zhao.

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen! If Fan had the ability to produce immortal lines with every utterance, how is it that I have not produced a single one since?"

Fan Zhi had in fact explained this many times, but few believed him.

"Compared to this Great King's poetry, I am actually more curious about why he calls himself Heavenly King. Could it truly be that Hexi lacks literary culture, and they do not understand the difference between Great King and Heavenly King?

Yet judging from this 'Pride of the Fisherman,' that seems impossible. Brother Derun has been to Hexi — could you tell us what sort of man this Great King Zhang is?"

Derun was Liu Tao's courtesy name. When Shi Jingtang had enfeoffed Zhang Zhao as King of Han, it was Liu Tao who had gone with the Secretariat Director Lu Dao to deliver the edict.

Now, with Fan Zhi avoiding the subject and Lu Dao gravely ill and returned to his home village, the person with the most contact with Zhang Zhao was Liu Tao.

But Liu Tao was no Fan Zhi. Fan Zhi had stayed in Hexi for over a year, and upon his return had been marginalized, and had been cautious ever since, terrified of being branded with the mark of Hexi.

Liu Tao was different. Upon his return, he praised the King of Han of Hexi to everyone he met, saying his loyalty was beyond words, or saying the Hexi cavalry far surpassed the Khitan, for fear that others might not know he had received benefits in Hexi. He had even bought a house and land immediately upon returning.

But in doing so, he made people think he had little real connection to Hexi. Such obvious behavior clearly meant he had merely been paid to sing their praises.

"You, Li Weizhen, cannot go three sentences without mentioning Hexi. Are you hoping to use your silver tongue to persuade the King of Zhang of Hexi to come to court and beg forgiveness? If so, I could serve as the go-between."

These words were rather bold, but everyone was long accustomed to Liu Tao's style. Li Gu also gave a wry smile and shook his head, though there was a hint of deeper meaning in his smile.

"It is a pity that my abilities are insufficient. If anyone could truly resolve the grievances between the court and Hexi, it would surely be a merit as great as heaven."

When everyone heard this, they all burst into laughter.

The brothers Li Chao and Li Chao were Li Gu's political allies and thought nothing of it. The rest, such as Xue Juzheng, merely felt that Li Gu was speaking somewhat unusually today.

Liu Tao kept his face composed, but his heart was pounding. The look of misery on Fan Zhi's face deepened, as though he was making some kind of decision.

The company feasted until deep into the night. After the discussion of Hexi concluded, Li Gu somehow produced a troupe of singing girls, which delighted Li Zhao and the others even more. They exchanged poems back and forth, and in the end all stayed the night at Li Gu's house.

But when arranging lodging for everyone, a servant whispered a few words in Li Gu's ear, and Li Gu then directly assigned Liu Tao and Fan Zhi to the eastern wing, far from the others.

The night was deep. Faint yellow lamplight flickered outside the eastern wing. Presently, a soft knock sounded at the door.

But it stopped after a single knock, because the door was quickly opened from within.

Liu Tao stood at the doorway in full robes. He looked at the black-robed figure outside, cupped his hands, and said, "The visitor must be Minister Feng, Duke of Lu? Please, come in quickly."

The black-clad man entered and removed the black flat cap from his head. His face was gaunt, his beard and hair somewhat streaked with white. It was none other than Feng Dao, one of the three great civil officials of the Later Jin — Acting Minister over the Masses, Palace Attendant, Duke of Lu.

A few traces of surprise appeared on Feng Dao's face, but they quickly vanished. He coughed lightly.

"This old man attends by the sovereign's side, yet I never saw that you, Liu Derun, possessed such great talent. I have been remiss!"

"The world's talents are many. Men like me are as numerous as carp crossing the river — what great talent is there to speak of? But for you, Lord Dao, to come in person late at night, I imagine the Son of Heaven in Daning Palace..."

Liu Tao did not finish his sentence. Feng Dao had already entered the room and seated himself, while Li Gu personally kept watch at the door.

"Do not probe this old man. The Son of Heaven is in good health. A little illness is nothing — Heaven itself protects him!"

Liu Tao chuckled. Feng Dao appeared to have said nothing, yet he had said everything.

For him to speak this way, to come looking for him so late at night, and to have Li Gu deliberately use a birthday as a pretext to gather a large group of people connected to Hexi for feasting and probing — Shi Jingtang's health must have taken a serious turn. That was why Feng Dao was in such a hurry to act.

"As for what was discussed today — once I walk out this door, I will acknowledge nothing. And you, Liu Derun, must also be clear: you live in our Great Jin, and your parents, wife, and children are also in Great Jin."

Feng Dao did not much like the feeling of being led along. As an old political survivor whose edges had been worn smooth by the present age, the precondition for everything he did was first to protect himself.

After they were seated, Feng Dao shook his head. "Great Liang Heavenly King — that title is not a good one.

The term 'Heavenly King' was once an appellation of the Zhou Son of Heaven, but after the First Emperor unified the realm, no one used it anymore.

Those who later called themselves Heavenly King were men like Fu Jian, King of Qin, and Yuwen Jue, King of Zhou of the Northern Dynasties — and Shi Hu and Shi Le besides. They were all barbarians."

As Feng Dao spoke, his brow furrowed deeper and deeper, because not only could he not understand why Zhang Zhao wanted to call himself Heavenly King, he could not even quite grasp why Zhang Zhao had suddenly decided to declare independence.

Even if he had seized the territory of the Dingnan Army and Lingwu Army, that was still something that could be negotiated. Why act so violently?

Liu Tao smiled faintly. "Since 'Heavenly King' was the title of the Zhou Son of Heaven of old, why has it become something only barbarians use? The Son of Heaven serves the Khitan as a father, and yet he can still be a sovereign of Huaxia, can he not?

The King of Liang dwells in the northwest, where Tangut, the various Qiang, the the Shatuo, Uyghur, Tatar, Sogdian, Tibetan, and Tuyuhun peoples all live mingled together — just as the Zhou Son of Heaven of old ruled as a Xia lord over Yi subjects, seeking to transform the Yi into Xia.

What a pity. He originally returned to the nation in the name of great righteousness, yet the Son of Heaven of the Central Plains has acknowledged the Di and Yi barbarians as his father, so that even the mixed barbarians of Hexi despise him. With virtue so lost, how is the King of Liang to transform the Yi into Xia?

Since the Son of Heaven is without virtue, the King of Liang should become Heavenly King and raise the great banner of Huaxia in Liangzhou."

Feng Dao drew a long breath. He understood now — Zhang Zhao was not founding a state and declaring independence; he was contending with the Central Plains for the mantle of orthodoxy.

This Heavenly King was not a Di Heavenly King like Fu Jian, nor a Xianbei Heavenly King like Yuwen Jue, but a Heavenly King like the Zhou Son of Heaven.

"Sophistry! What audacity! What viciousness!" Even an old fox like Feng Dao was left trembling with rage by Zhang Zhao's argument.

"Even if the Son of Heaven serves the Khitan as a father and his conduct is flawed, the orthodoxy of the Central Plains still stands. The culture of the Central Plains is gathered there; the capital of Yao and Shun, the kingly aura of the Son of Heaven, still resides there. Hexi has been lost for a hundred and fifty years — with what is he to raise the great banner of Huaxia?"

"Then may I ask Duke Kedao: Shi Jingtang is of mixed Sogdian stock. If one says the Zhuye house of the former Tang held a great dynasty's investiture and could barely be called a cadet branch of the great dynasty, still retaining some semblance of a Huaxia sovereign —

but Shi Jingtang is a traitorous minister who serves the Khitan as a father and sold the nation to obtain the throne of the Son of Heaven. What kind of Huaxia sovereign is he?

If my lord, for a hundred and fifty years and four generations, has never forgotten the old country, and amid encircling barbarians has still guarded the culture of the Han — if even this cannot raise the great banner of Huaxia, then by what right is Shi Jingtang the Son of Heaven of the Middle Kingdom?"

Liu Tao berated Feng Dao without the slightest courtesy, and Feng Dao's face flushed crimson with fury. He panted heavily as he stared at Liu Tao.

"If you put it that way, Li Bian claims to be of the great dynasty's imperial clan, and Qian Yuanguan comes of a hereditary Huaxia line. Which of them is not more legitimate in origin than Great King Zhang?

If one is to raise the orthodoxy of Huaxia, either of them is more suitable than Great King Zhang!"

"That is indeed so!" Liu Tao actually nodded in agreement.

"But Li Bian of Wu-Tang is no more than a country farmer, with only the will to protect himself and no heart for enterprise. The soldiers and generals of the Tang state are fit only for defense. Without iron cavalry, how is he to pacify the north?

The state of Qian-Yue is small and its land narrow. With what is it to raise the orthodoxy of Huaxia? Only the King of Liang is accomplished in both letters and arms!"

Hearing Liu Tao's twisted sophistry, Feng Dao felt a throbbing pain in his head. He had never imagined Liu Tao could be so brazen.

Born in the Eastern Capital, facing him — the most favored civil official at Shi Jingtang's side — he still dared to speak such treasonous words.

But just as he was about to retort, he suddenly sensed something was wrong.

Why was Liu Tao telling him all this?

Arguing these points with him was not Liu Tao's purpose in coming today.

He, Feng Dao, had come because he knew Shi Jingtang truly did not have long to live, to scout the path for Shi Chonggui — not to contend over orthodoxy or anything of the sort.

Come to think of it, Shi Jingtang was pitiable. During these days when he lay bedridden with rage, Feng Dao, Li Gu, and the others had long since been recruited by Shi Chonggui.

The reason was that Shi Jingtang, in a wild fancy, actually wanted to pass the throne to the two-year-old Shi Chongrui rather than Shi Chonggui.

This was simply the greatest joke under heaven. Shi Jingtang had sold out the nation for glory to ascend the imperial throne; in a thousand years there had been no one whose accession was more illegitimate than his.

And now, in such a chaotic age, he actually wanted to pass the throne to the two-year-old Shi Chongrui — he had utterly lost his mind.

Therefore civil officials like Feng Dao, no matter how heavily Shi Jingtang had employed them, immediately and swiftly threw their support to Shi Chonggui.

Because if there were another military upheaval, the ones who would suffer most were still these civil officials who seemed to have power but in fact had none, yet whom the military men considered very rich.

And after Feng Dao sensed this wrongness, Liu Tao's manner quickly softened. He drew a letter from his breast and handed it to Feng Dao.

"Precisely because the King of Liang rose from Hexi, he has not acquired the temperament of the other military men of the realm. When men like myself arrived in Liangzhou, we received the rare honor of sharing the King of Liang's bed, feet to feet.

The Great King's literary talent is better than the world knows — he excels especially at poetry and prose, and he understands the importance of promoting culture and education.

A year ago, every prefecture in Hexi already had its prefectural school fully established. Five or six out of every ten scholars of Guanzhong are teaching and making a living in Hexi.

Moreover, there is none of that business of military men treating civil officials as slaves. After Fan Wensu established the legal code for Hexi, scholars and commoners, nobles and meritorious houses alike all obey it — the King of Liang is no exception. Their morale is high, like the morning sun rising. How could one not yearn for such a place?

If we civil officials do not wish to remain pigs and dogs beneath the blades and spears, only the King of Liang can be our support."

Feng Dao said nothing. He silently finished reading the letter Zhang Zhao had written in his own hand, then held it to the oil lamp and burned it to ashes.

In that letter, the offers of office, promises, and overtures did not move Feng Dao's heart. Only Zhang Zhao's certainty that Shi Jingtang did not have long to live filled him with dread.

Feng Dao thought through everything from beginning to end, and at once many questions became clear.

Why had Zhang Zhao reacted so violently? Not only declaring independence but also sending letters throughout the realm to make Shi Jingtang lose all face — it was all to grind Shi Jingtang's face into the dirt and slap it again and again.

Could it be that his greatest motive in swearing brotherhood with the Khitan ruler was also to anger Shi Jingtang to death?

Feng Dao shook his head. One must not dwell too much on such conspiracy theories; once you fall into them, they cloud your judgment.

"Since Great King Zhang harbors such intentions, and matters have already reached this point — the Great King has already proclaimed himself Heavenly King and founded a state with ancestral temples — the matter is beyond reversal. It seems this old man has come in vain."

Feng Dao had come today to scout the path for Shi Chonggui, to see whether Zhang Zhao could still be drawn back, and at the very least to sound out Zhang Zhao's thinking and assess whether Guanzhong was in danger.

Now that Zhang Zhao harbored the intent of contending for the orthodoxy of Huaxia, there was nothing left to discuss with Shi Chonggui. Let them settle it on the battlefield!

Liu Tao looked at Feng Dao strangely. "How can Duke Kedao say there is no room for reversal?

The Great King sent letters throughout the realm bitterly denouncing the Jin sovereign for his lost virtue and shamelessness — but he did not say the Jin state had lost virtue and no longer possessed legal legitimacy!

If the succeeding sovereign can follow the people's will and no longer serve the Khitan as a father, who can say he has lost virtue?"

Feng Dao had been about to leave, but hearing Liu Tao's words, he spun around abruptly, his gaze like lightning piercing straight at Liu Tao.

In that moment, the last thing Feng Dao had not understood, he now understood.

So after Zhang Zhao had railed against Shi Jingtang, he now intended to use a second return to allegiance to lure Prince Zheng, Shi Chonggui, into adopting a hostile posture toward the Khitan.

The imperial sword of the Jin state had the strength for only one strike — either northeast against the Khitan, or northwest against the Liang state. Zhang Zhao was now lowering himself again precisely to divert the calamity toward the Khitan.

Thereafter, if the Jin state defeated the Khitan, he would use his status as Heavenly King and younger brother of the Khitan ruler to gather up the Khitan remnants.

If the Khitan won, he would raise high the orthodoxy, honor the king and expel the barbarians, revive Huaxia, and drive the Khitan from the Central Plains to achieve hegemony.

"With the King of Liang acting thus, war will rise again across the realm. Who knows how many common folk will lose their homes and lives for it!" At this moment, Feng Dao was truly afraid.

Liu Tao gave a soft snort. "Without my lord the King of Liang, would the Khitan not still covet the lands of the Central Plains and continue south? Would men like Jing Yanguang not still urge Prince Zheng to march north and expel the Khitan?"

Even the Son of Heaven now dying in the Daning Palace took the shame of Han Gaozu at Baideng and the Oath of the White Horse of Tang Taizong to spur himself on, hoping that one day he might wipe away the disgrace, did he not?

Feng Dao, having heard this, had nothing to say. He walked out in silence, while Liu Tao merely smiled faintly.

Feng Kedao is the least principled of men; no one knows better than he how to protect his own skin. He will certainly not dare to wreck my plans.

The next day, just as the sky began to lighten, Liu Tao dashed out of Li Gu's residence.

He rode his horse several circuits around the city, and only after making certain no one was following him did he enter the Grand Minister Temple. By the time he came out again, he had passed through a secret tunnel and emerged onto the Cai River.

On the Cai River there were countless small boats that carried vegetables into the city, and the people coming and going there were the most mixed and hard to track.

After Liu Tao boarded a small boat with a tiny red-lacquered oil lamp hanging from it, the Cai River suddenly grew busy.

Great boats hauling grain and rice, small boats selling vegetables, all crowded and jostled until the little boat was squeezed into the middle of them.

Inside the small boat, a powerfully built man with obvious Sogdian features sat upright in the center, and Liu Tao sat facing him.

"Feng Dao has already taken the bait. I will be responsible for coercing him from here. But as for my father, wife, and children, I beg the young lord to send them out of the city as quickly as possible."

"As for bribing Jing Yanguang, though the Great King has forbidden it, the Eastern Capital is ten thousand li from Liangzhou. I beg the young lord to act on his own authority. If the Great King asks who is to blame, say it was Liu Derun alone who insisted."

Zhang Liecheng nodded. "The Great King has the realm in his heart and is unwilling to bribe Jing Yanguang, lest it provoke the Khitan. That is the benevolence of a true ruler.

But the Khitan will march south sooner or later. This infamy, I will bear together with Brother Derun. Your parents, wife, and children can set out for Liangzhou by this evening at the latest."

Having obtained Zhang Liecheng's promise, Liu Tao did not linger, and left at speed.

Zhang Liecheng then looked at the several men beside him, who at a glance were clearly local bosses of the Eastern Capital, and said:

"The Great King once said that Fan Zhi has the talent of a chief minister. Tonight, send him and his whole family away together with Liu Tao's household."

"Notify our inside man in the Daning Palace. We must ascertain the state of health of the occupant of Cell Number One under the first character. Everyone, raise your alert level!"

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