Chapter 493: How About a Usurpation Three-Piece Set?

When Zhang Zhao said everyone should sit and discuss the great affairs of state, he truly meant sitting and discussing.

The crowd sat in dense, packed rings beside the ancestral temple of the Great Tang's twenty-four emperors outside the Vermilion Bird Gate.

Besides the civil and military officials from the Liang state, there were officials and officers of every rank from Chang'an, as well as clerks, representatives of the various merchant guilds, village elders, local gentry, and scholars who had mastered two or more of the classics.

Beyond them, Zhang Zhao had stationed two thousand soldiers of the Hanshan Capital Guard and the Left Yulin Guard as protection.

Outside the protective ring of soldiers was yet another layer — the Chang'an residents who had come to watch the spectacle, a full twenty or thirty thousand of them, with more still streaming in.

Fortunately, Chang'an was large enough; though many places had fallen into ruin, there was ample open space.

The Chang'an residents on the outer edge could not actually see anything, nor could they hear much clearly.

All they could make out were bursts of cheering, then someone roaring "Wind!" at intervals, and now and then people shouting and dancing in waves.

And of the Chang'an officials and commoners admitted to the inner circle, only a very few could get close enough to Zhang Zhao to truly understand what was being deliberated.

Yet whether they could see Zhang Zhao or were far off watching nothing at all, every last Chang'an person was so stirred they could hardly contain themselves, as though they had truly taken part in deliberating the great affairs of state.

Perhaps in their old age, these people would tell their descendants with shining eyes that they had once deliberated state affairs together with His Majesty the Heavenly King.

The first matter deliberated was whether to preserve the blood sacrifices of the Great Tang's twenty-four emperors.

For blood sacrifices were the very symbol that the altars of state and the ancestral temple still endured, and their significance was immense.

If Zhang Zhao agreed, it would mean that in the new dynasty Zhang Zhao would later establish, the ancestors of the Zhang clan would share this realm's altars with the twenty-four emperors of the Li-Tang line.

To people of this age, this was a matter of the utmost concern; even with the closest of ties, one would not readily agree to it.

But what could Zhang Zhao say? Although fourteen years had passed since he crossed over, in this respect he was still more influenced by later times and did not care so much.

So Zhang Zhao considered it only briefly, then agreed.

"The Heavenly King's grace is higher than heaven, his righteousness deeper than the sea. Our entire Longxi Li clan will forever remember the Heavenly King's great kindness and virtue." Li Shouling pulled Li Congyi down with him, and with a splash they dropped to their knees.

Immediately after, all those around who had any Li blood in their veins knelt respectfully and kowtowed three times to Zhang Zhao.

From this moment on, the twenty-four emperors in the Great Tang's ancestral temple could lawfully receive blood sacrifices.

Those of Li Shouling and Li Congyi's standing could even offer sacrifice once a year to the gods of soil and grain.

The second matter was even more important: since Zhang Zhao had now entered the Central Plains and returned to the nation before the spirit tablets of the Great Tang's twenty-four emperors, the legitimacy derived from his father Zhang Chengfeng's self-proclaimed Great Dynasty of Western Han, Golden Mountain, Great Liang — could no longer be used.

For Zhang Zhao's present identity was that of a loyal subject leading Hexi, Longyou, Anxi, and Beiting back to the nation — a subject of the Great Tang. How could he style himself Heavenly King of Great Liang and use a dynastic title like Western Han Golden Mountain?

To keep it simple, he could continue using the title King of Liang to raise troops and campaign east.

But then again, Yelu Deguang had proclaimed himself Son of Heaven of the Central Plains. For Zhang Zhao to go forth to chastise him as a mere King of Liang seemed somewhat self-belittling.

Moreover, it would not help Zhang Zhao mobilize the people of Guanzhong. And in practical terms, after such great merit in returning to the nation, was there to be no reward at all?

Just as the atmosphere had grown somewhat quiet, Li Shouling stepped forward.

Most of the civil and military men around Zhang Zhao were from the Liang state; for them to propose it would not look quite right. But with Li Shouling bringing Li Congyi, Zhao Ying, and An Shoujie along, it became far more proper and justified.

Li Shouling gave a light cough, glanced at the ancestral temple in the distance where the Great Tang's twenty-four emperors were enshrined, then turned back and bowed once to Zhang Zhao, and after that made a full round of salutes to the people gathered around.

"Gentlemen, at this moment of dire peril, when the northern barbarians have invaded south and the divine land is falling, the duty of raising righteous troops and driving out the northern barbarians should have fallen to our Li clan. But the descendants have proven unworthy — possessing neither strength nor reputation, unfit for so great a charge.

Fortunately, the Heavenly King has returned to the nation from the west, with fifty thousand crack troops at hand. In my view, this great enterprise of expelling the northern barbarians and restoring the kingly aura of the Central Plains can be accomplished only by the Heavenly King. It would be better to invite the Heavenly King to ascend the imperial throne, so that he may raise troops and chastise the rebels with full legitimacy."

At Li Shouling's words, the Liang civil and military men around Zhang Zhao felt their eyes light up.

Ascending the imperial throne — how fine! Once the Heavenly King became Emperor, would there not be a great bestowal of titles upon all his ministers? It must be remembered that although Zhang Zhao had founded the Liang state, he had not yet granted any noble ranks, and everyone had been keeping that in mind.

Zhang Zhao saw this and hurriedly stepped out, waving both hands rapidly to stop the crowd's imminent urging to take the throne.

This was not the time. One moment he was a loyal subject returning to the nation, the next he would make himself Son of Heaven — far too hasty. Did he not care about face at all?

If he did that, the words just spoken — that whoever drove out the northern barbarians would be Son of Heaven — would become a laughingstock.

Zhang Xichong also felt that proclaiming himself emperor now was too frivolous. He thought for a moment, then said to Zhang Zhao:

"Now that the realm has no master, since the Heavenly King has returned to the Great Dynasty and enjoys the support of the people of Guanzhong, Shuofang, Longyou, and Anxi, it would be better to take the title of King of Liang of the Great Dynasty, follow the precedent of the Taizong Wen Emperor of old, open a Tiance Office, and raise righteous troops to chastise the rebels."

Now it was Zhao Ying's turn to object. "The Heavenly King has brought three million living souls back to the nation. For such great merit, he should naturally be advanced one rank in kingship.

The title King of Liang is no ancient state, and is insufficient to display the Heavenly King's might. This subject has heard that the Heavenly King is a descendant of the Zhang clan of Nanyang, and Nanyang anciently belonged to the state of Chu. It would be better to advance him to King of Chu."

"He cannot be advanced to King of Chu!" Fan Zhi shook his head like a rattle-drum.

"At present Ma Xifan already holds Wu'an Command and styles himself King of Chu. The Heavenly King's family has dwelt in Dunhuang for several hundred years; using Chu would also be unsuitable.

In my view, the Heavenly King intends to set right what has been overturned and reform the martial men's ways of overthrowing superiors and their cruel, bloodthirsty customs. It would be better to advance him to King of Zhou, to display our king's intent to restore the rites of Zhou and order the realm by ritual."

"Not appropriate! The two Zhou dynasties already transmitted the state for eight hundred years. Our king has the ambition to sweep clean the six directions — how could he use the dynastic title of a former dynasty again?"

Although Yan Jin was a military man, he was very sensitive to such matters and immediately voiced his disapproval.

With him saying so, the dynastic title Qin could certainly no longer be used either.

The crowd was suddenly at a loss, but Guo Tiance's eyes lit up. As the worm in Heavenly King Zhang's belly, he instantly thought of the most fitting dynastic title.

"Heavenly King, in Hexi, Liangzhou has always been held in highest esteem. Liangzhou was anciently called Yongliang. The state of Yong was an ancient state existing since the time of Tang of Shang. The Zhang clan descends from the Ji surname, and the state of Yong also descends from the Ji surname — truly of the same lineage. It would be better for the Heavenly King to take Yong as his title."

Eh! When the crowd heard this, they all thought the character Yong was best, and one after another voiced their approval.

Once the dynastic title was settled, the next matter was the form of government. Before this, the overall structure of Zhang Zhao's Liang state had in fact been something he had thrown together carelessly on the model of the later Great Ming.

It was not that the Great Ming system was no good — on the contrary, it was too advanced.

For the Ming system was the product of a time when literacy had developed to a very high degree.

In the Great Ming period, though the proportion of scholars in the realm was not high, their numbers were by no means small; one could casually produce a great many knowledgeable officials.

But now that would not do. Movable-type printing had not even appeared yet; reading remained the privilege of a very few, and there was simply no mature selection mechanism, nor enough people to fill the posts.

Therefore, in the later administration of the Liang state, it had almost become a contracting system.

The Left Chancellor and Right Chancellor each contracted out a portion of government affairs; apart from the horse administration and the Ministry of Works' Tiangong Institute, which Zhang Zhao personally oversaw, everything else was run in this subcontracting mode.

So Zhang Zhao could only follow the customs of this age and restore the Great Tang's Three Departments and Six Ministries system: the Secretariat drafted edicts, the Chancellery reviewed and remonstrated, and the Department of State Affairs carried them out.

The first two were equivalent to the Ming dynasty's Directorate of Ceremonial, and the last was the Ming dynasty's Grand Secretariat system.

And following the established practice of this age, Zhang Zhao also established the Bureau of Military Affairs.

Simply convert Guo Tiance's Qiongming Court into the Bureau of Military Affairs. The Bureau of Military Affairs controls military and state secrets and is the direct organ for controlling the army, which makes it more convenient for Zhang Zhao to hold power.

Thus the political structure shifted from Zhang Zhao's subcontracting arrangement of Left and Right Chancellors to four chancellors: the Secretariat Director, the Chancellery Attendant, the Department of State Affairs Director, and the Commissioner of Military Affairs.

No — far more than four chancellors, because there could be two Secretariat Directors, two Chancellery Attendants, and an unlimited number of Vice Commissioners of Military Affairs, entirely according to Zhang Zhao's wishes.

A flexible number of chancellors made it easier for the sovereign to control the situation.

As for the remaining Six Ministries and Five Directorates, all followed Tang regulations; the Court of the Imperial Stud, the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, the Court of Judicial Review, and the rest all remained as before.

With the overall structure settled, Zhang Zhao at once appointed Fan Zhi and He Ning as Secretariat Directors, his father-in-law Cao Yuanzhong as Chancellery Attendant, Zhang Xichong as Director of the Department of State Affairs, and Zhao Ying as Minister of Personnel.

His maternal uncle Song Shantong became Chief Minister of the Secretariat-Chancellery, remaining to guard Liangzhou.

Pei Yuan was made Chancellery Attendant, remaining to guard Lingzhou in Shuofang.

Zhang Zhao himself concurrently held the post of Commissioner of Military Affairs, with Guo Tiance and Yan Jin as Vice Commissioners of Military Affairs, thus provisionally setting up his core staff.

The military officer system imitated Emperor Taizong of Tang's establishment of the Tiance Supreme General's Office, temporarily concentrating the powers of the Bureau of Military Affairs and the Ministry of War in the Tiance Office to meet wartime needs.

Zhang Zhao simultaneously enfeoffed Li Shouling as Duke of Longxi Commandery and Li Congyi as Duke of Jinyang Commandery, granting each fields, residences, and wealth to continue the ancestral line of the Great Tang.

As for the remaining civil and military officials' appointments and ennoblements, those would wait until after the Khitan were defeated, and only then be bestowed.

After the discussions concluded, on the third day Zhang Zhao once more came before the Vermilion Bird Gate and again made sacrifices to the twenty-four emperors of the Great Tang. Through a full set of acclamation rites, before the spirit tablets of the twenty-four emperors, Zhang Zhao formally received the offices of:

Chief of All Affairs, Supreme General of the Tiance Office Commanding All Military Affairs Within and Without, Chancellor, Supreme General of the Tiance Office, promoted to Prince of Yong, granted the Nine Bestowments, granted the Son of Heaven's banners and standards, granted the Son of Heaven's carriage, with overall command of all military and state affairs.

Since this was not a usurpation, the three privileges of not hastening when entering court, not having one's name announced when being praised in audience, and wearing sword and shoes into the hall were unnecessary.

At this point Zhang Zhao had obtained ninety-nine percent of imperial power. He needed only to drive the Khitan north, and then he could step over the corpse of his sworn brother Yelu Deguang and ascend the throne of supreme ruler of all under heaven.

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