Chapter 524: The Crossroads of History

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The Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture.

It is said that long ago, Zhuanxu was enfeoffed at Gaoyang for his service assisting Shaohao, and was called the Gaoyang clan — this was the beginning of Kaifeng's founding as a city.

By the Xia dynasty, Kaifeng's status rose even higher. Beginning with King Zhu, it served as the capital for more than two hundred years.

But it was not until the Warring States period, in the sixth year of King Hui of Wei, when the state of Wei moved its capital to Daliang, that Kaifeng's prosperity truly began.

And by this era, Kaifeng had already surpassed Chang'an and Luoyang, and stood on the eve of its great ascent.

But the road had not been easy. Before Kaifeng could take off, the Khitan had swept through it from top to bottom. Thirty to forty percent of the common people were gone, and every household had been plundered into utter poverty.

And that was not the end of it. The Khitan had occupied Kaifeng for only a few months before they were defeated. It was said that even the Son of Heaven of the Liao, who had swaggered into Kaifeng in triumph, had died in battle.

Now the master of this city was the Western Liang Army, come from distant Hexi.

And compared to the vicious and brutal Khitan northern barbarians, this Western Liang Army from the west seemed to make the people of the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, shiver just as much.

The Western Liang Army! Kaifeng people, living near Luoyang, could hardly be expected to have a good impression of them. Who could blame them, after Grand Preceptor Dong had gone so far back then? His terrible name still lingered to this day.

But one thing that set the people's minds slightly at ease was that this advance force of the Western Liang Army had, at least, not burned, killed, or looted.

Yet they had also sealed the four gates of the Eastern Capital, allowing entry but no exit. Who knew whether this was the prelude to shutting the gates and ransacking the whole city?

Li Cunhui's expression was somewhat grim. Murong Xinzhang had won the great merit of capturing and killing the Khitan ruler Yelu Deguang, but his own achievement was not small either.

He had led five thousand hastily assembled troops of the Barbarian-Suppressing Army, seized the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, with lightning speed, and then caught up with the Khitan fleeing north in panic at Huazhou.

At that time, the two thousand-plus Khitan led by Yelu Wuzhi and others, after joining forces with the garrison of the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, had swelled to a force of six thousand.

Li Cunhui personally led the charge, and at Baima Ford in Huazhou, he cut down more than two thousand of the Khitan who were about to destroy the pontoon bridge in a single battle.

Had it not been for the need to guard the pontoon bridge at Baima Ford, the Khitan losses would have been even greater.

At the time, Li Cunhui thought to himself: with such dazzling achievements, the gap between his merit and Murong Xinzhang's should not be too great, right?

But what happened next in the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, nearly broke him.

The people of the Eastern Capital had already been plundered clean by the Khitan. They had not a coin left, and high and low alike seemed to have lost all vitality.

As for the arriving Yongliang Army, they insisted on calling it the Western Liang Army, and figured that at worst they would just be raped and looted by the Western Liang Army one more time. After all, they had nothing left worth protecting.

Faced with an entire populace of the Eastern Capital that had simply given up, Li Cunhui's prestige was still somewhat lacking. No — not somewhat lacking; it was basically nonexistent.

He could not even organize the people of the Eastern Capital to welcome Zhang Zhao.

It was only later, after Murong Xinzhang arrived at the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, that by virtue of his identity as Murong of the White Robe and son-in-law of Li Siyuan, he managed to persuade the officials and commoners of the Eastern Capital, high and low, to come out and welcome Zhang Zhao.

On the fifteenth day of the eleventh month, Zhang Zhao, wearing an ochre-yellow robe, with a yellow silk canopy and the Son of Heaven's six-horse carriage, entered this Later Jin capital that had endured so many calamities through the western gate of Kaifeng Prefecture, the Xinzheng Gate.

The people of the Eastern Capital, organized by Murong Xinzhang, had spread yellow earth on the road and brought baskets of food and jugs of drink, kneeling in neat rows at the city gate to welcome Zhang Zhao.

And before Zhang Zhao had even entered the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, he issued a decree: all elders of the Eastern Capital aged fifty or above were exempt from kneeling.

As soon as this decree was issued, the faces of the Kaifeng people, who had been kneeling on both sides in fear and trembling, suddenly showed a few traces of pleased surprise.

For since the end of the Tang, Sons of Heaven had changed like figures on a revolving lantern. And though there had been many of these Sons of Heaven, they all shared one common trait.

That was: before any Son of Heaven had even entered the capital, the yabing guards who supported him had already entered the capital first and begun burning, killing, and looting on a grand scale, extorting the common people.

Something like exempting elders over fifty from kneeling — that had never happened before.

Very often, a Son of Heaven surrounded by mutinous troops had no choice but to personally fleece the capital's commoners to satisfy the soldiers' demands for wealth. How could he have any leisure to care about the capital's people?

Yet from the time the Western Liang Army entered the city until now, they had not killed a single person, nor seized so much as a single coin.

In fact, apart from essential personnel, the advance Western Liang Army troops had not even entered the city of Kaifeng at all.

This was a world of difference from when Li Congke and Shi Jingtang had entered Luoyang.

And now, before the Son of Heaven had even arrived, he had issued an edict exempting elders over fifty from kneeling.

What did this mean?

It meant the rumors might be true — the King of Zhang from the west — no! It should be said, this Zhou Son of Heaven come from the west, might truly be a benevolent ruler like King Wen of Zhou of old.

But after the edict arrived, even commoners clearly over fifty did not dare rise, for fear that Zhang Zhao was fishing for lawbreakers.

In these times, military men were mad beyond measure. Operations of first pardoning and then slaughtering were not uncommon.

Guo Tiance, whom Zhang Zhao had sent ahead as the advance party, quickly noticed this phenomenon.

He immediately had Li Cunhui bring the Left Yulin Guard to cooperate with the local constables of the Eastern Capital in helping the old people to their feet, and repeatedly proclaimed Zhang Zhao's benevolence.

Only then did the crowd reluctantly believe that this Zhou Son of Heaven was not putting on an act, but truly meant to show compassion to the elderly.

Kaifeng Prefecture, which had been still as death, suddenly recovered some of its former vitality. Merchants, commoners, and officials alike could not help whispering to one another.

And so, all the commoners aged fifty and above stood up, and even moved of their own accord to the front of the crowd, craning their necks to look.

The people of Kaifeng finally began to feel some anticipation toward this Son of Heaven entering their city.

At the end of the mao hour, Zhang Zhao's unhurried carriage at last arrived at the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture.

Looking at the rammed-earth walls, still fairly tall, Zhang Zhao was filled with emotion.

If he had not come to this era, then a few years from now, the one to arrive here would have been Liu Zhiyuan.

And merely fifteen years after that, Zhao Kuangyin would become the master of this place.

Thereafter, the Zhao family's Sons of Heaven went from initially restraining military men, to using civil officials to control the military, and finally to complete exaltation of the civil and debasement of the martial.

In the end, the Zhao family made the Humiliation of Jingkang one of the most painful disgraces in the heart of the Central Plains Han regime, and even in the hearts of the Han people — perhaps the most painful of all.

And from this point on, the inclusive, all-embracing, open and confident culture of the Han and Tang vanished, replaced by conservatism and obstinacy.

And the changes of the Song dynasty — or rather, the changes in Chinese history and in the Chinese people's mentality — went far beyond this.

After the exaltation of the civil and debasement of the martial fully took the stage, and a pack of crooked-mouthed Confucian literati twisted the scriptures askew,

the Central Plains Han regime began to completely split apart and rot. Although the Hongwu Emperor of Ming made a sudden brilliant rise, in the end he could not reverse the decline.

But fortunately, Zhang Zhao now finally had the chance to reverse this trend, arriving at the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, before Liu Zhiyuan, and even before Zhao Kuangyin.

Passing through the barbican of Xinzheng Gate, the former Later Jin court's high officials — Feng Dao, Li Song, and others — were all kneeling here in welcome.

Feng Dao was at the very front, holding up a wooden tray, and on the tray lay the golden seal and treasure seal of the Later Jin court that the Khitan had not had time to carry away.

Zhang Zhao gestured for Guo Tiance to take the golden seal and treasure seal, then dismounted and walked a few steps before suddenly drawing three feathered arrows from the quiver at his side.

Zhang Zhao raised the first feathered arrow into the air, then snapped it in two, and spoke loudly to the people of the Eastern Capital gathered around him.

"Those who plunder shall pay back double!"

The Left and Right Yulin Guards, the Hanshan Battalion, and the soldiers of every garrison army roared in unison: "We obey!"

Then Zhang Zhao snapped the second feathered arrow and shouted.

"Those who violate women shall die!"

The assembled soldiers shouted in unison, "We obey!"

Zhang Zhao snapped the third feathered arrow. "Those who kill shall pay with their lives!"

Hearing this, the soldiers' morale soared to the heavens, and they roared at the top of their lungs,

"We obey the Son of Heaven's decree! No violation! No plundering! No slaughter!"

Hearing this oath that shook the very rooftops, the people of the Eastern Capital erupted in joy. Word spread from mouth to mouth, and the surging crowd, like waves, all fell to their knees.

They knelt and shouted with utter sincerity, "We welcome the Son of Heaven into the city."

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