Chapter 416

Just as Fan Zhi and the others were struck speechless by Zhang Zhao's outrageous maneuver, the True Lord Zhang Erlang in Liangzhou was worrying over a problem of his own.

Because the imperial examination he had opened this time was very likely to face an extremely awkward situation — there were almost no literati to be found.

In Hexi and Longyou, if he had opened a military examination, men would have come swarming over every hill and dale.

These past days in Liangzhou, the yamen runners' workload had increased more than tenfold compared to normal, because fierce and mighty men from every region and every tribe had all arrived.

Many of them had brought hardly any money or dry rations at all, gorging themselves along the way at the post stations, and by the time they reached Liangzhou they were penniless.

Or if they did have a little money, they quickly spent it all in Liangzhou's dazzling world of pleasure — eating, drinking, whoring, and gambling until it was gone.

For this reason, Zhang Zhao could only have the Left and Right Yulin Guards take turns patrolling the streets to keep order, and have those penniless fools arrested and locked up in the military camp.

While arranging food and lodging for them, he also kept them from brawling and causing trouble outside.

But one must never imagine the soldiers of this era as anything like the People's Liberation Army of later generations.

The soldiers of this time, especially those who came to take the military examination, were all blockheads who regarded fighting and brawling as even more normal than eating and drinking.

When they ran into each other, a few cross words were enough to make them beat each other's brains out.

This was not because they were inherently bad people, but because they had never received the most basic education, and the string of discipline simply did not exist in their minds. Once their blood was up, they were capable of anything.

Sometimes for the sake of a promise, they would stake their very lives; sometimes over a contest of pride, a small quarrel could escalate to the point of killing.

Zhang Zhao opened the military examination on the one hand because he wanted to unearth genuinely capable people left among the common folk.

On the other hand, he wanted to find all such blockheads, then restrain them with military law and motivate them with generous rewards and honors.

While ensuring his own army's fighting strength, he could also make the villages and countryside a bit more peaceful.

"Great King, the examination candidates from Qinzhou have also arrived — and not a single one for the Classics Clarification subject!"

The newly minted Grand Academician of the Qionglin Academy, Guo Tiance, came over, his face full of a bitter smile.

Zhang Zhao could only answer with a bitter smile of his own. He had originally thought that culture and education in Qinzhou were fairly decent, and that perhaps a few candidates for the Classics Clarification subject might emerge — but in the end there was not a single one.

Thinking back to the very beginning, when Zhang Zhao had wanted to open the Presented Scholar subject — that had truly been wishful thinking. No one would even sit for the Classics Clarification subject.

"It's fine if there are none!" Zhang Zhao motioned for Guo Tiance to sit down, and took the military examination roster himself, reading as he spoke.

"Even among our own people, only those few Dunhuang families have anyone who understands the classics. If a few candidates for the Classics Clarification subject really did come, we wouldn't even have officials capable of grading them."

At this time, the place with the finest literary culture in the Liang state was probably not Qinzhou, but Shazhou's Dunhuang.

The Zhang, Song, and Cao families all had some literati who knew the Confucian classics.

Of course, "knew" was the limit — far from mastery. And Zhang Zhao did not want to use them for the time being, because he had not yet gotten around to dealing with Cao Yuanshen and that group.

Moreover, the most numerous cultured people in Dunhuang were damn sutra copyists.

The Buddhist atmosphere in Hexi was simply too thick. Of the few books that existed, most were Buddhist sutras; those who truly delved into the Confucian classics were almost nonexistent.

This was also why Zhang Zhao wanted to send the monks of Hexi out. First, he wanted to use these monks, with their improved Hexi Esoteric Buddhism that benefited him, to control the Qingtang Plateau and Mobei.

Second, an overly thick religious atmosphere was also detrimental to governance.

And he could not strike too harshly either — the Mogao Caves and the scriptures of later Dunhuang were peerless treasures left to posterity.

If his interference caused the Mogao Caves to end up too small in scale, the sin would be enormous.

Just then, Li Xiaojie walked in from outside. Today he was responsible for guarding the Yongxun Palace. The moment Guo Tiance saw Li Xiaojie enter, he tactfully withdrew.

Because the Brocade Robe Envoys controlled by Zhang Liecheng, Li Xiaojie, Huang Fei (Huang Yang), and the other members of the adopted-son army were an organization directly subordinate to Zhang Zhao.

Even though he was Zhang Zhao's most trusted Grand Academician, these were not matters he could inquire into.

"The man sent back by Commander Zhang has arrived. The family members of Fan Zhi and Liu Tao have also all arrived safely."

The matter of Zhang Liecheng escorting the families of Fan Zhi and Liu Tao to Liangzhou naturally had to be reported to Zhang Zhao in advance by fast riders.

Zhang Zhao nodded, preparing to summon Fan Zhi and the others after a while.

But suddenly, as he held the examination roster Guo Tiance had given him, an idea flashed through his mind like lightning.

Now that Fan Zhi had come, didn't that mean he had both an examiner and candidates for the Classics Clarification subject?

Fan Zhi was at this moment waiting outside the Yongxun Palace. All of Zhang Zhao's palaces in Liangzhou were named after the palaces of Zhang Gui of the Former Liang.

They were divided into the outer palace, Yongxun Palace, where government affairs were handled and the ancestral temple was located, and the inner palace, Yongshou Palace, where the consorts and family lived.

Though, well, calling them palaces was actually still rather shabby.

Yongxun Palace was originally the Hexi Military Governor's yamen, and Yongshou Palace was originally an abandoned Buddhist temple.

His Great King Zhang had founded his state only three or four years ago and had already fought several major wars — where would he get the money to build palaces?

After waiting no more than two quarters of an hour, a blue-robed palace attendant came leading several tall, gentle mares, with quite a bit of cloth and other goods loaded on their backs.

"By the Heavenly King's decree: Sheren Fan and Elder Liu have traveled a long and arduous road. You are specially granted two fine horses each and fifty bolts of Hexi brocade each. Please go first to the post station to rest; the Great King will summon you shortly."

This treatment was still a bit inferior to last time! Fan Zhi was slightly disappointed.

Last time he had come, Zhang Zhao had still been the Later Tang Guiyi Army envoy, and could walk arm in arm with him in the utmost intimacy.

"Your servants thank the Heavenly King for his rewards!"

But though he thought this in his heart, he dared not say it aloud. Fan Zhi and Liu Na hurriedly bowed and gave thanks for Zhang Zhao's rewards.

However, just as the group took the horses' reins from the attendant's hands and were about to leave, another attendant came galloping up from the distance.

"Sheren Fan, Elder Liu, please wait — the Heavenly King has another decree!"

Fan Zhi and Liu Na hurriedly stopped again. The attendant who arrived this time held a wooden tray in his hands, covered with purple brocade.

When he reached the group, the attendant lifted the brocade, revealing dazzling gold ingots.

"The Heavenly King suddenly recalled that Sheren Fan and Elder Liu have come a thousand li from the Eastern Capital, and in their haste probably did not bring much in the way of funds.

He has specially ordered that you two be granted five ingots of gold each, one hundred strings of silver notes each, twenty thousand coins each in Jinshan Kingdom gold-backed large cash, and additionally a residence in the eastern part of Liangzhou."

As he spoke, the attendant cast an envious glance at Fan Zhi and Liu Na.

"This residence in the eastern part of the city was originally built by the Heavenly King to reward the various imperial in-laws of the Cao family. But considering that you two do not yet have a place to live, he has specially granted it to you first."

By this point, both men were somewhat moved. Not only had they been successively granted horses for travel, brocade for new robes, and a fine residence —

The gold and silver he bestowed also showed that Zhang Zhao had put considerable thought into it.

Because these five large gold ingots were clearly not meant for buying things.

At this time, gold was an extremely precious metal that did not circulate; ordinary households simply never came into contact with it.

So these five gold ingots were bestowed to serve as a family heirloom treasure.

At this time, even somewhat wealthy families would bury a few gold ingots in storage, only taking them out to save their lives or for other purposes when a great calamity befell the household and it was about to be ruined.

And the silver notes of one hundred strings each were equivalent to the later concept of directly giving someone a bank card — this was so that the Fan and Liu families could draw on them when they needed to buy something major.

Finally, the twenty thousand Jinshan Kingdom gold-backed large coins were easy to understand — these were the "small money" people used in daily life. Zhang Zhao had considered things so carefully; how could the two men not be moved?

"Your servants kowtow in thanks for the Heavenly King's gracious reward!" The two families, several dozen people in all, went down on their knees before Zhang Zhao at the gate of Yongxun Palace with a clatter.

Fan Zhi immediately cast aside that tiny bit of disappointment from just now, and Liu Tao's father was even more exaggerated — tears fell straight down as he cried out the Heavenly King's sacred grace.

Fan Zhi's wife at this moment was also basically certain that her husband's coming west to Liangzhou had been the right decision. With the favor shown before her eyes right now, they could stay in the Eastern Capital another ten years and still never receive such treatment.

However, right after that, she stared dumbfounded into the distance. Fan Zhi was about to rebuke her, telling her not to lose her composure, when suddenly he too became dumbfounded.

It turned out that more palace attendants had come running over — and not just a few, but a great crowd of them.

"By the Heavenly King's decree, we are ordered to go out of the palace and prepare residences for you two. We have also helped select a few honest and quick-witted servants."

It turned out these palace attendants had been sent by Zhang Zhao to tidy up houses for Fan Zhi, Liu Na, and the others.

"By the Heavenly King's decree, Attendant Fan, together with his younger brother and wife's brother, and Elder Liu with all his sons and grandsons, are to be summoned into audience at once!"

Fan Zhi and Liu Na looked at each other in bewilderment. Summoning the two of them was normal enough, but summoning all the male members of both families as well — what did that mean?

Still, the honor of Great King Zhang issuing three decrees in less than half a shichen moved the two men deeply.

They immediately instructed the women of the household to go ahead with the palace attendants, while the two of them followed the attendants into Yongxun Palace.

"Fan Wensu, haha! How does it feel to come back to Hexi? I said I would make Liangzhou completely new — have I done it?"

Fan Zhi had just reached the gate of Zhengde Hall in Yongxun Palace when Zhang Zhao came out to greet him.

Fan Zhi, hearing this, immediately prostrated himself. "Great King, with your heaven-bestowed brilliance, your servant left Hexi only three years ago, and already this place has changed beyond recognition. Only a true overlord could accomplish this!"

"The Great King's Liangzhou, crouching like a tiger over Yong and Liang, already shows the flowing radiance of kingly aura — it is about to produce a lord of all under heaven!"

Liu Na flung a huge flattering hat at Zhang Zhao without the slightest hesitation, and Zhang Zhao's eyes lit up.

Hmm, someone who can't wait to lavish flattery before I've even opened my mouth is surely a thick-skinned, quick-witted fellow.

"This must be Elder Liu?" Zhang Zhao grasped Liu Na's hand with both of his, and to Liu Na's surprise, there was even a strong note of sorrow in his manner.

"Derun and I hit it off the moment we met. I once urged him to simply come to Liangzhou — the Eastern Capital is full of treacherous currents, and one careless step could cost him his life.

But Derun refused. He said that being in the Eastern Capital allowed him to accomplish more than being in Liangzhou. Ah! These past few days, whenever I think of Derun, I can neither eat nor drink. Ah!"

Hearing this, large teardrops suddenly slid from Liu Na's shrewd old eyes.

"My worthless son received the Great King's profound favor. He often said that in all the world, the one who could reverse heaven and earth and revive a great dynasty could only be the Great King.

With these words from the Great King, Derun will know that he did not follow the wrong man."

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