Chapter 541

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Wang Zhou could be considered one of the more relaxed among these former Later Jin Military Governors, because at the time he had wanted to die by suicide for his country, only to be stopped by his family.

Moreover, after Yelu Deguang entered the Eastern Capital of Kaifeng, he immediately faced tremendous pressure from Zhang Zhao, and had no time to put on a show of rewarding loyal ministers as he had in history, so Wang Zhou could be counted as the one watched most strictly, and he had nearly been killed.

Therefore at this time Wang Zhou's reputation was very good, and he had the name of a loyal minister. After Zhang Zhao entered the Eastern Capital, the great majority of Later Jin Military Governors could not leave the Eastern Capital, and only Wang Zhou was the exception.

The world regarded An Shenqi, who had ties of friendship with Zhang Zhao, as the weathervane for how Zhang Zhao would treat the various Later Jin Military Governors, but in fact Wang Zhou was the true one.

At the gate of the residence, Wang Zhou had led his sons in waiting there for a long time.

Toward Zhang Zhao, Wang Zhou adopted a completely different attitude, because at the very least Zhang Zhao was a man of Huaxia.

He, Wang Zhou, was unwilling to submit to the Khitan, but serving Zhang Zhao and the Zhou state caused him no discomfort whatsoever.

Toward such a loyal minister, Zhang Zhao naturally also had to adopt a completely different attitude, and moreover Wang Zhou's character was indeed quite good.

In past years, when he was Military Governor of the Zhangyi Army in Jingyuan, he abolished the harsh governance of the previous Military Governor — that Zhang Yanze who was beaten to death by the entire Eastern Capital — and in his post at Dingzhou he also repaired bridges and roads, bestowing kindness upon the people.

Although his methods of governance were still extremely crude, at least he had some heart for loving the people.

In the Five Dynasties, to be able to do this, to have a heart that loved the people, was already quite good.

Therefore Wang Zhou had served in the regions for several years, and wherever he went the households recovered and grew prosperous day by day, and his reputation among the common folk was also not bad.

This was also why, when he wanted to die by suicide for his country in Dingzhou, no one suspected he was putting on an act. Had it been someone like Li Shouzhen, everyone would have thought it was a performance.

At this moment the Emperor arrived, and the rites were not complicated. Especially after the two hundred years spanning the late Tang, the Later Liang, the Later Tang, and the Later Jin, the authority of the emperor had already fallen to a rather low point — one could say this was the moment in Chinese history when the emperor was at his weakest.

If one followed the standards of this time, when Zhang Zhao arrived, Wang Zhou only needed to simply welcome Zhang Zhao through the gate, find a large room, and seat the Emperor at the head — he could even drink a round of wine with the Emperor.

But when it came to Zhang Zhao, that would not do. Sage Zhang's full ceremonial regalia was complete, and over a thousand personal guards cleared the way, surging forward in a grand procession toward Wang Zhou's home.

At the gate, yellow earth was spread on the road and incense burned to guide the way. Three generations of Wang Zhou's family — father, sons, and grandsons — all knelt at the gate to receive him.

Only after Sage Zhang said "rise" could the three generations of Wang Zhou's family stand. Then the Emperor descended from the carriage, and the personal guards took over all affairs of Wang Zhou's residence. As the master, Wang Zhou could only wait outside, and could be received only when summoned.

This was not because Zhang Zhao insisted on doing it this way, but because he now had to raise the Emperor's stature, to make everyone recognize that An Zhongrong's saying — "The Son of Heaven is whoever has strong soldiers and sturdy horses" — was wrong.

Within the Wang residence, Wang Zhou and his son were summoned to the main hall to take part in the audience. The Empress Cao Yanxi was pregnant and found it inconvenient to move about, so her elder sister, the Imperial Consort Cao Yannai, took her place in summoning the women of the Wang household to the rear quarters.

"Your subject Wang Zhou pays his respects to Your Majesty!"

In truth, Wang Zhou was also uncomfortable. Even if he had the reputation of a loyal minister, in reality he was still part of the group of Later Jin surrendered generals.

Given Zhang Zhao's current attitude toward the Later Jin surrendered generals, although Wang Zhou's days could still pass, his psychological pressure was also enormous.

Since Zhang Zhao entered the Eastern Capital in the eleventh month of last year, Wang Zhou could be counted as the only one among all the former Later Jin Military Governors to have an audience with Zhang Zhao, and this was the first time.

Therefore, at this cry of "pays his respects to Your Majesty," Wang Zhou's tears came down, and his voice even cracked.

"Old Wang, quickly rise!" Zhang Zhao had finished displaying the full ceremony outside, and once he entered Wang Zhou's room, he naturally put it aside.

After personally helping Wang Zhou to his feet, the attendant at his side stepped forward and produced a scroll of ochre-yellow silk, reading it aloud in a loud voice.

"Wang Zhou, a man of Weizhou, did not bow to the barbarian invaders, a loyal minister for the state. In his successive posts as Military Governor of the Zhangyi Army in Jingyuan and the Yiwu Army in Dingzhou, he had a benevolent name.

In reward for his loyalty, righteousness, benevolence, and courage, he is specially enfeoffed as Count of Dingzhou, granted one thousand strings of cash, one thousand five hundred bolts of brocade, and one son is to be appointed as a Chiliarch of the Brocade Robe Personal Army."

This Count of Dingzhou did not carry the four characters "hereditary and irreplaceable," which meant that after Wang Zhou's death, if his son inherited, he could only inherit a salaried post within the Brocade Robe Personal Army.

It could roughly provide shelter down to Vice Commander, and by the grandson's generation only a Chiliarch remained — apart from the salary, he could manage nothing at all.

But that was not necessarily so, because Zhang Zhao had picked up the Ming dynasty's guard-post system and applied it to his own Brocade Robe Personal Army with deeper intent.

The guard-post system, within China, no matter how many patches you applied, was bound to decay, because when superiors lost their objects of exploitation, they could naturally only exploit the soldiers under them.

But using it abroad was different, because with Xia lords and Yi subjects there were plenty of people to exploit, so it was highly likely to mutate from the guard-post system into the Eight Banners system.

Zhang Zhao was prepared to do exactly this. Of course, he would not use the Manchu Qing's perverted methods of prohibiting intermarriage and building Manchu cities to pen people up.

Looking at it this way, in the decades to come, as long as a family was willing to spend money, the sheltered Brocade Robe Personal Guard posts could also be turned into substantive positions.

Wang Zhou of course did not know the twists and turns in Zhang Zhao's mind. Right now he cared nothing about the countship not being hereditary and irreplaceable and so on — the fact that Zhang Zhao was still willing to grant them rewards meant that he was still prepared to forgive these Jin ministers who had surrendered to the Khitan.

"Your subject kowtows in thanks for the Sage's grace!" The overjoyed Wang Zhou kowtowed once more.

"Old Wang, please rise. You are a loyal minister, different from the others."

Zhang Zhao said with considerable emotion, but in fact he had said it deliberately, to steer the topic in this direction so as to take the opportunity to summon the other Later Jin Military Governors.

Sure enough, hearing Zhang Zhao say this, Wang Zhou seemed about to speak but hesitated, and finally mustered his courage and said to Zhang Zhao.

"The Sage overpraises me. What sort of loyal minister is one who bent his knee? The true loyal ministers are other men!"

Zhang Zhao had not expected Wang Zhou not to bring up the matter of Fu Yanqing and the others, but instead to say there were other loyal ministers.

Was he speaking of Huangfu Yu? He was indeed a loyal minister, but Zhang Zhao had already sent people to search for Huangfu Yu's son and wife, and his nephew Huangfu Chong had been taken along and kept at his side as a personal guard.

"Who are these loyal ministers that Old Wang speaks of?"

"The former Military Governor of the Yongqing Army in Beizhou, Liang Hanzhang, served as the army's vanguard and died a heroic death in battle — he may be called a loyal minister.

Wang Qing, Commander of the Fengguo Army, fought to the death and perished; from sunrise to dusk, not one soldier under his command bent the knee — he may be called a loyal minister.

Guo Lin, Prefect of Yizhou, with his line of retreat cut off, still refused to surrender, and died cursing the rebels — he may be called a loyal minister."

So Wang Zhou was speaking of Liang Hanzhang, Wang Qing, and Guo Lin. They were indeed loyal ministers, all of whom had died unyielding and heroic deaths in battle against the Khitan.

Zhang Zhao nodded deeply. "These three are indeed loyal ministers and righteous men. Vice Minister Dou, send men at once to seek out the descendants of these three loyal ministers and righteous men. I shall reward them richly."

The Vice Minister of Personnel attending Zhang Zhao was called Dou Yi, a name unfamiliar to the great majority of people.

But "Dou of Yanshan, with righteous methods, taught five sons, all of whom became famous" — many people can recite it.

This Dou of Yanshan was Dou Yi's father, and the five brothers were all renowned Confucian scholars and civil officials.

But before Dou Yi could go down to handle the matter, Wang Zhou spoke up.

"The descendants of these three loyal ministers are within the residences of us ministers. After the three loyal ministers died in battle, we ministers feared the Khitan would harm their families, and so we hid them away."

After Wang Zhou finished speaking, he waited uneasily for Zhang Zhao's reaction.

Zhang Zhao's gaze also sharpened. The phrase "us ministers" certainly did not refer to Wang Zhou himself.

Thinking of this, Zhang Zhao looked toward Huangfu Chong at his side. His uncle Huangfu Yu was the only Jin military officer who had died by suicide for his country.

From Huangfu Chong's attitude, Zhang Zhao could roughly judge whether these Later Jin Military Governors still commanded any popular support or authority.

Huangfu Chong had gone through untold hardships before he finally found Zhang Zhao, and had even been made a Captain of the personal army, following close beside the Emperor — a very special position.

On ordinary days, if Zhang Zhao did not ask him about such matters, he would absolutely never speak of them; now that Zhang Zhao had asked, Huangfu Chong immediately prostrated himself and kowtowed as he answered.

"Sage, Grand Tutor An and Grand Guardian Fu are both renowned generals. If Your Majesty wishes to take Hebei, you will need their efforts.

In the old days, before they submitted to the Khitan, they never shied from arrows and stones on the battlefield. They only hate that Du Chongwei and Li Shouzhen conspired to bend the knee, and they had no choice but to comply.

In the realm today, how many loyal ministers like my uncle's father, Lord Huangfu, can there be? I beg the Sage to show leniency to Grand Tutor An and the others."

Zhang Zhao nodded at these words. What Huangfu Chong said was reasonable — how many men in the world could truly be loyal ministers like Huangfu Yu, Wang Qing, Guo Lin, and Liang Hanzhang?

What most people cared about most was surely the safety of their own lives and their wives, children, and elders. Those who held out to the very end and only bent the knee when they had no choice should actually count as acceptable.

Moreover, Zhang Zhao had always understood in his heart that men like Fu Yanqing, Gao Xingzhou, Yao Yuanfu, and Xue Huairang — suppress them as he might, pressure them psychologically as he might — still had to be used.

Now that he had a way to step down gracefully, he pretended to ponder for a moment, then said,

"Tomorrow, I will proceed to Grand Commandant Kang's residence. Order An Shenqi, Fu Yanqing, and the other generals to come and present themselves!"

Wang Zhou and Huangfu Chong let out long breaths of relief. The two men immediately accepted the order and prepared to go inform the others.

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