Chapter 476: Great King Zhang Marries Off His Daughter

The mobilization order Zhang Zhao issued actually came earlier than Zhao Xian's entry into the palace for an audience.

Because through the palace women and inner attendants around Empress Dowager Li, as well as the literati Liu Tao had recruited and the city foxes and village rats of Kaifeng Prefecture, Zhang Zhao sensed the Later Jin's crisis even more keenly than Shi Chonggui did.

In the provinces, Henan and Hebei were a complete ruin, Hebei worst of all: the three disasters of flood, drought, and locusts, compounded by war and man-made calamity, had nearly reached the edge of total collapse.

Henan was not much better. Even the countryside around the eastern capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, had refugees on the move, and apart from the many rural strongmen who built fortified manors to defend themselves, thirty percent of the independent farmers had disintegrated.

This was an extremely serious matter. Although only thirty percent had disintegrated, once the breach was opened, the speed of further disintegration would be very fast.

Once the countryside was entirely made up of fortified-manor strongholds, their bargaining power against the government would soar.

Given the Later Jin court's current capacity to govern, the impact of this would be devastating.

Of course, none of the above was the most serious thing. The most serious thing was that after Shi Chonggui won his unprecedented victory at the great battle of Yangcheng, the rewards were not properly delivered.

Never mind the common soldiers below — even a great meritorious official like Li Shouzhen had not had his rewards fully carried out.

Shi Chonggui was simply courting death. Treating soldiers and officers so harshly — even Emperor Zhuangzong Li Cunxu of old was bitten back by this and left with not even his bones intact.

He, Shi Chonggui, could not compare to a single hair of Emperor Zhuangzong. Even if the Khitan could not destroy the Later Jin, once taxes could not be collected next year or the year after, those tens of thousands of soldiers and officers would be enough to take Shi Chonggui's life.

Therefore, although Zhang Zhao did not remember the exact time the Khitan destroyed the Later Jin, he knew that Shi Chonggui had at most two or three years of life left.

He, and the entire state of Liang, had to begin making preparations.

"Your outer subject Zhao Xian, Commander of the Lulong Army cavalry, kowtows before the Great King of Liang, the Yinli Khagan, Your Majesty!"

When Zhao Xian was brought into the Yongxun Palace, he directly performed the grand kowtow ceremony.

Zhang Zhao also recognized who the visitor was. Smiling, he reached out and made a gesture of helping him up.

"We are old acquaintances. What need is there for such grand ceremony? Rise."

As soon as Zhao Xian stood up, Murong Xinzhang said with a smile from the side: "My lord should know that Meige'er was raised from childhood by Commander Zhao. When Zhao Yanshou entered Khitan service, it was also Commander Zhao who stayed by Meige'er's side supporting him."

This was the advantage of having people at court. Hearing Murong Xinzhang say this, Zhang Zhao immediately saw in this Zhao Xian before him the shadow of old Zhang Zhong. He at once waved for the inner attendants to bring a brocade stool.

"Grant him a seat. Erlang, find yourself a stool and sit as well."

Great King Zhang now had five formal adopted sons. The eldest was Zhang Liecheng, Murong Xinzhang was the second, Li Cunhui the third, Zhe Deyuan the fourth, and Yang Chonggui, who had just turned eleven, the fifth.

Murong Xinzhang was also quite pleased with the form of address "Erlang," because Zhang Zhao himself was Erlang.

He was practically a regular guest at Yongxun Palace, and on hearing this he did not even need an inner attendant, but directly found a stool and sat down himself.

However, Zhao Xian had just thanked Zhang Zhao for the seat, and his rear had barely touched the stool, when he immediately prostrated himself again.

"Your outer subject presumes to ask: does the Great King have a daughter of marriageable age waiting in her chamber?"

A daughter? Zhang Zhao was stunned for a long moment. His eldest son Li Zhun was not yet eleven. Where would he have a daughter waiting in her chamber?

But then Zhang Zhao immediately remembered — he really did have a daughter, and not only was she indeed waiting in her chamber, she was no longer young.

This daughter was the little tag-along Cao Yanmian had brought with her. Her birth father was Bughra Khan Satuq. Cao Yanmian had once hoped Zhang Zhao would take her in, but Zhang Zhao could not get past the barrier in his heart — Zhang Qiwu.

Zhang Qiwu was truly no longer young. This year she would turn nineteen, which in this era already made her a standard old maid.

But her marriage had always been somewhat fraught, because if you said she was noble, she was in fact a spoil of war, merely raised as a daughter, and her features leaned somewhat Scythian.

If you said she was not noble, her name and treatment were exactly the same as Zhang Zhao's legitimate daughters. She was, after all, a princess of the state of Liang, and could not be casually married off.

So Zhang Qiwu's marriage had been put off all along. It was Cao Yanmian at the front who had recently reminded Zhang Zhao that Zhang Qiwu needed to be married off.

"Zhao Kuangzan is not yet betrothed?"

For Zhao Xian to ask this was clearly asking on behalf of Zhao Kuangzan, which also fit the customs of this era.

Zhao Kuangzan had come over bringing troops, and his status was also out of the ordinary. He had to find a bond of close connection with Zhang Zhao, so as to guarantee his future power and wealth.

And there was no better way than marrying Zhang Qiwu.

"Not yet betrothed. Young Lord Yanshou originally wanted the eldest young master to seek a noble daughter of the Khitan imperial clan, but the eldest young master declined them all. As a son of Tang, when he takes a wife, of course he must marry a Han woman."

Was Zhang Qiwu a Han woman? Of course she was!

Although her features leaned more Scythian, as long as she was still Zhang Zhao's daughter, she was a standard Han woman.

And historically, Zhao Kuangzan only married the daughter of the Prince of Qin, Li Congyan, after the Khitan destroyed the Jin state and he was appointed Military Governor of Hezhong. At this time, naturally, he was not yet betrothed.

In ancient times, men of such status marrying late was actually not rare, because it was still quite difficult for them to find a wife of matching family status and aligned political stance.

The most typical example was none other than Li Cunhui. His eldest son by a concubine was already five, but he still had not taken a wife.

It was simply because no suitable match had appeared, and Zhang Zhao had never nodded his approval, so the matter had been shelved.

And should he let Zhao Kuangzan become his son-in-law? Zhang Zhao turned it over in his mind, and he still felt it was acceptable.

First, in terms of appearance, Zhao Kuangzan's father Zhao Yanshou had won Zhao Dejun's favor precisely by virtue of a fine face. Now that he was thriving in the Liao state, it was not impossible that this face had given him a boost.

Zhang Zhao had also seen Zhao Kuangzan himself. Although Zhao Kuangzan had been only fourteen that year, he had red lips and white teeth, with a natural youthful gallantry. His looks were not bad — at the very least, a bit more handsome than Zhang Zhao.

In terms of ability, there was no problem either. Historically, Zhao Kuangzan's grandfather Zhao Dejun was a shameless arch-traitor so vile that even Shi Jingtang nearly lost to him in a contest of shamelessness.

His father Zhao Yanshou was much the same — a principal promoter of the Khitan's southward campaign to destroy the Jin. To call him a dog of a traitor would absolutely not be wrong.

Yet born into such a traitorous family, Zhao Kuangzan was instead extremely averse to living under Khitan rule.

Even bearing the stinking reputation of being a traitor's grandson and a traitor's son, Zhao Kuangzan himself was not purged under the Later Han, Later Zhou, and Northern Song dynasties, and in fact did quite well.

In the campaigns against the Southern Tang and the Northern Han, and in garrisoning and pacifying the northwestern frontier, he rendered great service.

In the end he lived into the era of Emperor Taizong of Song, Zhao the Second Brother, and was enfeoffed as Duke of Wei. He remained a Military Governor of a great province holding real local power. His ability was absolutely beyond question.

Moreover, for Zhang Zhao, Zhao Kuangzan becoming a son-in-law had another important use: he could serve as a source of intelligence.

Regarding the Khitan side, Zhang Zhao had always been rather short of high-level intelligence.

If he was willing to marry his daughter down to Zhao Kuangzan, then at least during the period when Yelu Deguang entered the Central Plains, he would not lack intelligence from the Khitan high command.

Thinking of this, Zhang Zhao said with beaming delight: "Meige'er is a young hero. To gain such a son-in-law is most gratifying.

But this cannot be decided by me alone. Xinzhang my son, this still requires the assent of your Nineteenth Aunt and Thirteenth Aunt. Go and ask their opinion."

Queen Cao, Cao Yanmian, had been entered into the Cao family genealogy with Cao Yuanxing's approval. It happened that the Thirteenth Daughter of the Cao family's Yan generation had died of illness before reaching marriageable age, so Cao Yanmian took over the position of Cao the Thirteenth Daughter, and thus became Murong Xinzhang's Thirteenth Aunt.

"Then your child will first congratulate you, my lord. I expect Nineteenth Aunt and Thirteenth Aunt will certainly agree. Your child will go at once."

Murong Xinzhang's words were actually meant for Zhao Xian. With Zhang Zhao having spoken, who would still disagree?

Zhao Xian naturally understood this too, and was instantly overjoyed. These four hundred elite troops of the Lulong Army, unwilling to live under Khitan rule, along with the eldest young lord Zhao Kuangzan, had finally found a father they were willing to obey.

In that case, Zhao Xian could now reveal the most important piece of intelligence from this trip.

"Reporting to the Heavenly King, the eldest young lord sent this servant to Liangzhou with a matter of tremendous importance to report to the Heavenly King."

Here came the meat of it. Zhang Zhao nodded, putting on a deeply interested expression.

"Could it be that elder brother of mine is heading south again? Has he learned nothing from the last beating?"

Zhao Xian looked at Zhang Zhao solemnly and said, "This time is different from before. It was our young lord Yanshou who offered the poisonous scheme of secretly defecting.

The Jin court, having twice inflicted major defeats on the Liao army, now looks down on the Khitan, and will surely fall for the trap.

Once they enter the region between Yi, Mo, and Ying, and the Khitan cut off their rear, a disastrous defeat is extremely likely."

After hearing Zhao Xian's account, Zhang Zhao combined it with his own analysis and the historical outcome, and he finally understood how the Later Jin had been destroyed by the Khitan.

The Later Jin's destruction came entirely from Shi Chonggui's utter inability to control the Jin state, his poor judgment in employing men, and his indulgence in pleasure.

"Young lord Yanshou and the Khitan ruler have already settled their plan. In the seventh month of this year, they will formally lure the Jin army north. When that happens, I fear the Jin state will not be able to hold out."

Zhao Xian, fearing that Zhang Zhao did not grasp Yelu Deguang's determination to destroy the Later Jin, did his best to make the description even more dire.

Because in the previous two southern campaigns, the performance of Yelu Deguang and the Liao state had simply been too pathetic.

But Zhang Zhao was not the least bit careless, because he not only knew the Later Jin was certain to fall, he also knew it would be sold out by those two beasts, Du Chongwei and Li Shouzhen.

"Summon the Left and Right State Chancellors, the Grand Academicians of the Jade Forest Academy, the Vice Ministers of the Six Ministries, and the Commanders-in-Chief of all garrisons to assemble in Liangzhou this month. When the Khitan enter the Central Plains, we march into Guanzhong!"

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