Chapter 535: Three Refusals, Three Yieldings, Three Cries of

On the thirteenth day of the first month of 946, the family of Zhang Zhao, who had set out from Liangzhou and traveled for more than two months, finally arrived at the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, escorted by ten thousand cavalry and infantry.

Just as when Zhang Zhao had entered the city, the two queen dowagers, the queen, and the various consorts and ladies also entered through the Xinzheng Gate on the west side.

Zhang Zhao, who had remained in the Daning Palace and rarely appeared before the public, also mustered his full ceremonial guard and went two li beyond the Xinzheng Gate to receive them.

His legal mother, the Queen Dowager Fengtian, and his birth mother, the Queen Dowager Fengsheng, gazed at the still-imposing walls of the Eastern Capital, at the tens of thousands of soldiers all around, and at the vast crowds of Eastern Capital commoners, and were too moved to speak.

And at the sight of their arrival, the twenty thousand soldiers — especially the officers and men of the former Guiyi Army — raised cheer after cheer, each wave louder than the last.

Only once Zhang Zhao's family had all arrived did the soldiers' hearts settle, for it meant that Zhang Zhao would certainly not be withdrawing again.

Outside the Xinzheng Gate, Zhang Zhao paid grand ceremonial obeisance to his two mothers, and his two mothers, tears in their eyes, raised him up — before the assembled crowd they enacted a scene of a loving mother and a filial son.

On the return into the city, however, the carriage of the Great Sage Zhang was blocked by a crowd.

Do not be alarmed! There was no danger. It was Zhang Xichong at the head, with He Ning, Feng Dao, Guo Tiance, Liu Tao, Fan Zhi, Xue Juzheng, and other civil officials blocking the way before the carriage.

Zhang Xichong kowtowed three times before the carriage and cried out loudly: "Since ancient times, he who enters the Central Plains becomes Emperor. The Shi clan has lost the realm; the Jin mandate is extinguished. The Son of Heaven has personally led a righteous army to drive the northern caitiffs from the Central Plains and deliver the myriad people from their misery. Such great benevolence and righteousness, such surpassing merit, is enough to bear the hopes of all under heaven.

Your servant has also observed the heavens by night and seen the Purple Tenuity Emperor Star blazing with light, positioned in the northwest — exactly matching my lord's rise from Liangzhou. Your servants beseech the Son of Heaven to obey Heaven and answer the people: ascend the imperial throne!"

When Zhang Xichong had finished, the assembled civil officials all knelt with a great rustle, every one of them shouting, "We beseech the King of Zhou to ascend the imperial throne!"

So they had come to urge him to take the throne — and it was not entirely staged, either, for since ancient times the merit of enthroning a sovereign has been the foremost merit under heaven, and there will naturally always be those who come forward to urge accession.

As for this scene — Zhang Zhao had already gone through it once in Chang'an, when he was promoted to Prefect of the Masters of Writing and opened the Tiance Palace as King of Yong, so the Great Sage Zhang could be said to know the routine by heart.

For ascending the imperial throne and founding a dynasty, the three refusals and three yieldings are a procedure that must be followed, so as to show that you are not after power, but have truly been left with no choice for the sake of the common people.

So Zhang Zhao did not rise from the carriage, but directly had Zhang Liecheng, who was in charge of the escort, step forward and address the assembled civil officials.

"The Son of Heaven bids me tell you, ministers and officers: entering the Eastern Capital is to comfort the people and punish the guilty, to come for the salvation of the common folk, not for the wealth and rank of one family or one surname. Disperse at once, and do not sully my lord's lofty virtue."

With that, Zhang Liecheng directed the armored soldiers of the Hanshan Command to 'drag' the assembled civil officials aside, and the civil officials, every one of them weeping and wailing and struggling, each an actor possessed, appeared to cry out most piteously — yet all with perfect restraint.

It was just that the people of the Eastern Capital, having endured several calamities, and Kaifeng not having been a national capital before the Shi Jin, were no longer very familiar with this routine.

Watching the civil officials come to urge accession, they simply thought it an excellent suggestion; and when they saw the Hanshan Command come to drag the men away, they wondered all the more why the Sage did not agree.

The commoners, cherishing the thought that Zhang Zhao would be a good emperor and hoping he would change his mind, followed the procession as it moved into the city.

After traveling a stretch, past the Youguo Temple, just before the inner city, the carriage was blocked once more.

This time it was the military governors of the Later Jin provinces, in military official dress, with An Shenqi at their head, and behind him in order Zhao Hui, Li Jianchong, An Shuqian, Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou, Yao Yuanfu, Wang Zhou, Xue Huairang, Wu Xingde, and other generals.

After the group blocked the carriage, An Shenqi stepped forward and announced: "Now under heaven, the sacred vessel sits empty and ought to return to a man of virtue. The King of Zhou has the merit of driving out the northern caitiffs and the talent to settle the altars of state. We beseech him to ascend the imperial throne and so fulfill the hearts of all under heaven."

This was the second urging to take the throne. This time Zhang Zhao came forward directly, and looking at An Shenqi he said in a loud voice.

"You are subjects of the Shi clan. The Jin sovereign is still in Liaodong — how is it you come urging the throne upon me? Withdraw at once!"

An Shenqi looked at Zhang Zhao and answered loudly: "We have eaten the Shi clan's stipend, and we have already repaid it in the three battles of Qicheng and the bloody battle of Yangcheng.

The Shi Son of Heaven, by contrast, has not cultivated virtue, has not practiced benevolent governance, and has employed Du Chongwei, Feng Yu, and other treacherous sycophants to corrupt the government.

The Jin sovereign Chonggui has made his widowed aunt his empress, corrupting human ethics — how can he remain Son of Heaven?

The King of Zhou replaces the wayless with the wayful, and has the great merit of expelling the northern caitiffs. To replace the Shi is precisely to obey Heaven and answer the people!"

When Zhang Zhao heard this, his head shook on the carriage like a rattle-drum.

"Not proper! Not proper! Though the Jin sovereign has faults, they do not amount to the ruin of house and state. What we must do now is welcome back the Shi clan and wash away the humiliation of us stalwart men of the Central Plains."

As soon as Zhang Zhao finished speaking, the Eastern Capital commoners around him, who did not know the procedure, thought hard.

They truly could not see how that Shi Jingtang, who had sold out the country for glory, and that Shi Chonggui, who had made his aunt his empress, did not amount to the ruin of house and state.

Moreover, the Shi father and son were as different from the King of Zhou as heaven from earth!

If the Eastern Capital's Son of Heaven were changed back from the King of Zhou to the Shi clan, could there still be good days for them?

Who knew when the Khitan, or the Tang state to the south, or the Shu state to the west, might come attacking again.

The terrified Eastern Capital commoners truly believed Zhang Zhao was declining, and they hurriedly knelt together with the surrounding Later Jin military officers, pleading piteously from both sides of the road in a babble of voices.

"Move the carriage! Move the carriage! How could I have come for this throne!"

Seeing this formation, Zhang Zhao at once called for the carriage to move, and the Later Jin military officers kneeling in the middle of the road were quite smoothly pulled aside by Zhang Zhao's guards.

The carriage continued forward and soon arrived at the Vermilion Bird Gate of the inner city — this was the inner city of Kaifeng Prefecture, the Eastern Capital. Strictly speaking, once through this gate one was within the bounds of the forbidden palace.

Of course, quite unsurprisingly, the moment Zhang Zhao's carriage arrived here it was blocked at once — and this time those blocking Zhang Zhao were all his own people.

From the Yuan Cong faction: Yan Jin, Bai Congxin, Ma Yaozi, Fan Quan, Ma Shacai, Cao Yanming, Man Xiong, Dunzhu, and others.

Besides Zhang Liecheng, who was at his side, the six fine sons of Sage Zhang: Murong Xinzhang, Li Cunhui, She Deyuan, Zhao Kuangzan, Li Congyi, and Yang Jiye.

From the East Return faction: Guo Guangsheng, Hu Guang, Zhao Cunyi, Xue Shouli, Li Sanlang, Lu Sanlang, and others.

And from the Lianglan Liugu faction, whom Zhang Zhao had drawn back into the great Han family: Shebu Jiashi, Chen Nianban, Du Lun Chixin, Wen Chongle, Yue Saonu, and others.

Together, in perfect unison, they blocked the carriage.

Yan Jin, wearing the grand cap of a military officer, stepped forward and said to Zhang Zhao: "Heaven and earth shift; the sacred vessel changes hands; there is a fixed destiny in it.

Since the Great Dynasty declined, those calling themselves emperor or king have been beyond number, yet never has there been one like my lord, who practices benevolent governance and wins the people's hearts. If the Great King does not take the throne, how shall the common folk of the world find peace?"

At this point Zhang Zhao had to step forward. The surrounding guards shifted the yellow silk canopy aside a little, and Zhang Zhao stood high on the carriage, looking reproachfully at Yan Jin.

"We are men of the border wastes. For generations, for hundreds of years, our forebears were loyal subjects guarding the frontier for the state. Driving out the northern caitiffs is our bounden duty — how dare we claim merit for it? Still less speak recklessly of the sacred vessel?"

Hearing this, Li Congyi stepped forward. "The sacred vessel ought to return to a man of virtue. After the Great Dynasty declined, my father Mingmiao and my uncle Zhuangmiao sought to take up the sacred vessel and revive the Great Dynasty, yet the time had not come, and both fell short at the verge of success.

Now the Purple Tenuity Emperor Star rises in the northwest — this is Heaven bestowing the Great Zhou. My lord should take it!"

Hmm, when it came to the matter of the sacred vessel, no one was more qualified to speak than Li Congyi.

With even this direct-line scion of the Great Dynasty imperial house saying so, the civil officials and Later Jin military governors who had urged accession the first two times immediately knelt again and began urging with a roar like mountains and seas.

At this moment, the Eastern Capital commoners who had followed along must have numbered in the thousands; they pressed shoulder to shoulder, blocking the Vermilion Bird Gate so tightly that not a drop of water could pass.

Hearing that accession was being urged again, the commoners at once shouted and gathered around as well. They had all received Zhang Zhao's favor and felt he was a good sovereign who truly pitied the common people.

For a time, the cry of "We beseech the King of Zhou to take the imperial throne! We beseech the King of Zhou to take the imperial throne!" rose once more.

Among them, Wang Silang, Zhou Sanluzi, and the like shouted until tears streamed down their faces and their voices went hoarse.

Zhang Zhao wore an expression of great difficulty, looking as though he still wished to decline.

At that moment, from the imperial carriage behind the Son of Heaven's chariot, his legal mother, Empress Dowager Fengtian, and his birth mother, Empress Dowager Fengsheng, descended in full ceremonial court dress.

Empress Dowager Fengtian looked at Zhang Zhao and cried out loudly: "My son, a Heaven-blessed sovereign of outstanding brilliance, is supported by civil officials, military commanders, and the common people alike. He is the most benevolent and filial under Heaven, and he should be Emperor!"

Empress Dowager Fengsheng also summoned her courage. She looked at Zhang Zhao and said gently: "The sacred vessel cannot be seized by force without virtue, but with virtue there is no need to decline it. This is the will of Heaven and the hearts of the people.

The Nine Cauldrons of the sacred vessel are not power, but responsibility. My son, you must not further wound the hearts of the officials and the people. You should ascend the throne at once and return a golden age of peace to the world!"

"The mothers' words are right. We humbly beg the Great King to ascend the imperial throne!" Queen Cao Yanxi also came out with the consorts to urge him.

By this time, the moment was ripe. A clamor arose from behind, and Zhang Zhao's daughter-in-law — the principal wife of Murong Xinzhang, the fifteenth daughter of Li Siyuan, Emperor Mingzong of the Later Tang, Princess Yongle — arrived with her elder sister, Princess Shou'an, the fourteenth daughter of Mingzong, and her younger sister, Princess Yong'an, the sixteenth daughter. The three sisters came forward bearing a wide imperial dragon robe.

The civil and military officials and the people of the Eastern Capital all scrambled to lay their hands on the robe. Those who could not touch the robe placed their hands on the shoulders of those in front of them.

The crowd surged forward to Zhang Zhao. Princess Yongle raised the robe high and called out to him.

"This is the imperial robe that my late father, His Majesty of the Ming Temple, ordered made during his lifetime. Before the fall of the former dynasty, my elder brother, the Last Emperor, spoke before ascending the Xuanwu Tower.

He said that one day a lord of perfect benevolence and virtue would arise, inherit the virtue of the great dynasty, and bring peace to the people of the realm. Now it has indeed come to pass in you, my lord. I beg you to ascend the imperial throne and revive the great dynasty!"

With that, without waiting for Zhang Zhao's consent, the three sisters draped the imperial robe over his shoulders.

In an instant, cheers erupted beneath the Vermilion Bird Gate. Countless people rejoiced as if mad, shouting "Long live the Emperor!" three times, celebrating that they finally had a benevolent and virtuous good emperor.

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