Chapter 417: A Thousand Gold for Horse Bones

After the display of deep feeling and loyalty was over, the group chatted idly for a while longer.

Zhang Zhao lived within the Hexi palace, and what he heard of conditions in the Eastern Capital was all reported up to him by his subordinates.

What the true situation was, and whether it differed from the reports, he did not really know either.

So he took this opportunity, with Fan Zhi and Liu Na requesting an audience, to verify things for himself.

To be a ruler, especially one who is not the founder of a dynasty but grew up deep within the palace,

the most critical and most difficult part of governing a state is not to be drowned by the information reported up by one's subordinates, to have one's own accurate sources for knowing the truth or falsity of intelligence, and to be able to distinguish true from false to the greatest possible degree.

But after they had talked for a while, Liu Na could not help beginning to steer the topic toward the imperial examinations.

"Your servants have come all the way from Liangzhou, and we have seen that in the Great King's examinations, the scholars seem somewhat too few."

Zhang Zhao was inwardly amused. Before he had even spoken, these men could not hold themselves back. He put on a deeply troubled expression and replied.

"It is indeed as Elder Liu says. Hexi and Longyou fell to the Tibetans for a hundred and fifty years, and literary culture was nearly destroyed completely. I am not afraid of being laughed at by you gentlemen: this is not even a question of whether there are many scholars or few, but that not a single person has registered for the Classics Clarification examination."

Liu Na was startled. He had imagined that the state of culture and education in Hexi and Longyou was worrisome, but he had not expected that there was not a single person in the Classics Clarification examination.

For him, however, this was even better news.

Although the old man's grandsons were already in their teens, he himself was only fifty-one this year. A man who could teach a talent like Liu Tao would certainly not be some ignorant old country fellow.

For in this age when books were extremely precious, Confucian learning and the classics were in many cases passed down through family lines.

The role of a father in educating his son, in particular, was very great.

In his youth, Liu Na had also read the classics widely. It was only that in this chaotic age, scholars were not much in demand, so he had not gone to great lengths to seek some official post.

Because no matter how high an office you held, you were still nothing more than a dog on a leash held by a military man gripping a sword hilt.

After arriving in Hexi, however, his state of mind had undergone a considerable change, the main source of which was what he had seen and heard along the road.

Although Hexi and Longyou had been lost to the Tibetans for a hundred and fifty years — this was indeed their disadvantage — it was precisely also their advantage.

Because they had always been cut off from the Central Plains, and because they bore the task of resisting Tibetan tyranny, the military men here had not yet been infected with the temper of the Central Plains dynasties, which regarded scholars, and indeed all people, as pigs and dogs, and were prone to overthrowing their superiors at the slightest provocation.

What was more, because culture and education were lacking and the region was rather uncivilized, people who could read and write were still treated with a degree of respect.

Moreover, from Liu Na's observation, there was an important condition that had allowed Zhang Zhao to build his enterprise to such a scale in a few years.

That was that he was not like the ordinary Military Governors of the Central Plains, men such as An Zhongrong and Yang Guangyuan.

In this Great King Zhang, Liu Na saw more of the manner of the Son of Heaven of the great dynasty of former years.

So he simply cupped his hands and said to Zhang Zhao, "If the Great King is worried about culture and education in Hexi, this old man, unworthy as he is, has taught his three sons, all of whom have literary reputations. If the Great King can trust me, this old man would ask the Great King for an office comparable to Erudite of the Classics or Libationer."

"In only a few years, the culture and education of Great Liang can begin to flourish, and several dozen students who can pass the Classics Clarification examination should be no problem."

For Liu Na, he felt that this proposal of his was already very bold.

The office of Libationer was in fact not specifically used only in the Imperial Academy; it was more like the later term "chief."

Thus in the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Cao appointed Guo Jia as Libationer of the Military Strategists, meaning that Guo Jia was the most outstanding among the strategists under him — the chief strategist.

Zhang Zhao nodded, and then shook his head. Liu Na wanted to become Erudite of the Classics and Libationer of the state of Liang — his step was far too small!

How could he now have the patience to wait several years to cultivate some Erudite of the Classics for the state of Liang?

On this land of his, which produced warriors who roamed the mountains killing tigers and leopards, how easy could it be to cultivate Erudites of the Classics?

To take a shortcut, it would be far more convenient to draw directly from the Central Plains.

"Elder Liu's earnest heart, I know it well!" Zhang Zhao affirmed Liu Na's desire to serve, then turned the conversation.

"But given how urgent the situation in Hexi is, I fear it would be hard to have several years to cultivate slowly. Even this present imperial examination is enough to make me the laughingstock of the realm."

When Liu Na saw Zhang Zhao shake his head, he grew anxious, but after all he had little contact with the court and did not catch the meaning behind Zhang Zhao's words.

Only Fan Zhi caught it. He coughed once, stepped forward, and said to Zhang Zhao.

"If the Great King wants immediate results, I fear the only way is to attract talent from the Central Plains. That is the one road that can be taken."

"Wensu is right, but this road is not an easy one to walk.

I have not asked about family background, and have opened wide the gates to Central Plains scholars for more than two years. In all, only a few dozen people have come to join me.

Not only are there no famous scholars among them, but many cannot stay long before running back to the Central Plains. To keep them — how difficult it is."

Zhang Zhao's words were half true and half false.

The true part was that indeed not many people had been attracted.

The false part was that this was still because he had not attached enough importance to it. Busy with campaigns, he had handed the matter of drawing Central Plains literary scholars over to the former Right Chief Clerk Song Shantong to handle.

Song Shantong had to serve the logistics of Zhang Zhao's army on campaign, and his own ability was not very strong either. After a brief assessment, finding that there were no great talents among them, he simply stopped paying much attention.

These people were strangers in Hexi, and in some prefectures and counties there were few who even spoke Han Chinese. How could they possibly stay?

So after drawing a few months' pay, they either ran back, or, because the trade routes of Hexi were open, simply ran off with the great merchant houses.

At the very least, anyone who could write and do sums could get a good post in a large caravan.

And the harm did not stop there. After these people went back, they certainly would not say they had run back because they could not make a go of it — that would be too humiliating.

So almost with one voice they said that the treatment in Hexi was too poor, and that Great King Zhang did not value scholars at all, which was why they could not stay.

Thus Zhang Zhao's previous plan to recruit Central Plains scholars had ended — not with a tiger's head, no! with a snake's head and a snake's tail — without stirring up much of a ripple at all.

Fan Zhi had also heard something of Hexi's previous recruitment of worthies, and understood what had happened.

But with his emotional intelligence, he naturally could not say this to Zhang Zhao's face. Instead, he told Zhang Zhao a story.

"Has the Great King heard the story from the Warring States period of buying horse bones for a thousand pieces of gold?"

"Of course I have!" Zhang Zhao nodded. It would be strange if he had not heard it.

"The predicament the Great King faces today is in fact the same as that of King Zhao of Yan in former years.

In those days, seven states contended for supremacy. Yan was tucked away in the northeast, and was regarded almost as a land beyond civilization. The worthies of the Central Plains would go as far as Zhao, and then be unwilling to travel further north.

King Zhao of Yan, distressed at having no worthy men, obtained from Guo Wei the two stratagems of buying horse bones for a thousand pieces of gold and building the Golden Terrace. Only then did peerless talents like Yue Yi, and a yin-yang master like Zou Yan, come to serve Yan.

King Zhao of Yan was thus able to wipe away his former shame, smash the Qi army, and cast his eyes upon Zhao."

Zhang Zhao understood — wasn't this Guo Wei and the thousand-gold horse bones delivered right to his doorstep? This was exactly how he had planned to go about it in this life.

However, although Fan Zhi had not obtained any decent official post under the Later Jin, that was actually because he had drafted laws for Zhang Zhao and was thus branded with the mark of Hexi, which made Shi Jingtang unwilling to employ him — it was not that he lacked ability.

Given Fan Zhi's talents and his perceived ties to Hexi in the eyes of others, if Zhang Zhao now entrusted Fan Zhi with important duties, people would only find it natural; if Zhang Zhao did not use him, that would be what seemed unnatural.

But buying horse bones with a thousand gold means buying the bones of a thousand-gold horse — not actually buying a thousand-gold horse itself!

Because using a thousand gold to buy a thousand-gold horse is a normal transaction; buying the horse bones is what constitutes the premium.

Surely he couldn't... Zhang Zhao glanced at Fan Zhi — surely he couldn't, for the sake of the premium, take...?

Fan Zhi, subjected to Zhang Zhao's up-and-down scrutiny, felt a chill run through his whole body; a nameless sensation made his calves begin to cramp.

Then Fan Zhi had a sudden flash of inspiration. No longer concerned with Liu Na's dignity, he clasped his hands toward Zhang Zhao.

"Your subject begs the Great King to take Elder Liu as Guo Wei. Elder Liu is a man of profound learning, but his talents are not known to outsiders.

If the Great King now entrusts Elder Liu with important duties, inwardly you may put Elder Liu's scholarship to your use, and outwardly you may display our Great Liang's eagerness for worthy men.

Moreover, once Elder Liu departs, Brother Derun's situation will become dangerous. He serves the Great King in secret, and sooner or later the Jin state will discover it.

But if Elder Liu holds high office in Liang, it will surely make the Jin court wary of the Great King's awe-inspiring might, and will instead make Brother Derun safer."

Zhang Zhao listened, then nodded heavily. This time he shifted his gaze away from Fan Zhi and spoke to Liu Na.

"In that case, I shall immediately appoint Elder Liu as Chancellor of the Directorate of Education of our Liang state, and have the former Great Dynasty prefectural school of Liangzhou renovated as the campus of the Directorate.

Wensu and Elder Liu — I ask you both to take up the heavy responsibility of establishing the Directorate of Education."

Liu Na was overjoyed upon hearing this. Chancellor of the Directorate of Education! This was a high office of the lower fourth rank.

And not only was the office lofty, it was also greatly respected — its standing was even higher than that of a Prefect of an upper prefecture, which was lower third rank.

"No! Still too little!" Just as Liu Na was about to kowtow in thanks, Zhang Zhao shook his head and spoke again.

"If we want the effect of buying horse bones with a thousand gold, it must be strengthened further.

Wensu, you shall immediately assume the post of Vice Minister of Personnel of our Liang state, and I grant you the right of Attendant Before the King, assisting the Left Chief Minister Zhang Xichong in formulating policies to attract literary scholars from the Central Plains to Hexi.

Elder Liu shall first, in his capacity as Chancellor of the Directorate of Education, preside over this imperial examination.

It is a pity that no one has registered for the Classics Clarification subject. Why not let Elder Liu's two sons and one grandson, together with Wensu's younger brother, sit the examination — they shall be the first batch of Classics Clarification Erudites of our Great Liang!"

"Your subjects kowtow in thanks for the Great King's grace!" Fan Zhi and Liu Na, together with the four males of the two families, all knelt.

This was true grace indeed!

Fan Zhi had obtained the crucial post of Vice Minister of Personnel of Liang upon his very arrival — one should know that before this, the duties of Vice Minister of Rites had actually been managed by Zhang Zhao himself.

And Attendant Before the King was synonymous with being the Great King's trusted confidant.

Liu Na, at fifty-one years of age and utterly unknown, had become Chancellor of the Directorate of Education.

Moreover, the males of both families would become the first successful candidates in the Classics Clarification subject of Liang; as long as they did not act recklessly in the future, their prospects would naturally be boundless!

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