Chapter 576: Corporate-Level Comprehension

Li Jing's eyes were red, and the tear tracks on his face had not yet dried. Last night he had knelt before his father Li Bian's spirit tablet, wailing in grief the whole night through, without even the briefest closing of his eyes.

For the moment his eyes shut, he would see himself standing in a boundless sea of blood.

In the distance were thousands upon thousands of soldiers and horses, and everything he loved most — Empress Zhong, his eldest son Li Hongji, his second son Li Hongmao, his sixth son Li Congjia (Li Yu), his seventh son Li Congshan — was being cut down one after another into pools of blood.

Li Jing wailed with all his might, longing desperately to rush over and save the lives of his wife and children, yet his body would not move in the slightest.

Empress Zhong in particular had known Li Jing since childhood; they had grown up together like childhood sweethearts, and were deeply devoted to one another.

Li Jing was extravagant by nature, yet in all of history he had only two titled consorts, and Zhong alone bore him Li Hongji, Li Hongmao, Li Congjia, Li Congshan, Li Congqian, and two of Li Jing's three daughters.

The depth of the couple's affection was plain to see.

Coming out of the ancestral temple, Li Jing saw Wei Cen kneeling prostrate to one side, and the look he shot from his eyes was one of fierce hatred.

For it was precisely Wei Cen's refusal to cooperate that had kept Li Jing's plan to slip away to Hongzhou from ever even being raised.

Wei Cen knew as well that he had now thoroughly offended Li Jing, but he had been wronged! Who could have known that the Zhou sovereign would head straight for Caishi Jetty, cutting off the road to Hongzhou in one stroke?

"Your servant begs Your Majesty to rally. Around the western capital there are still twenty thousand of our troops, who can be deployed in defense along the Qinhuai River.

He Jingzhu has the talent of a commander, and Wang Jianfeng, Huangfu Hui, and the rest are brave generals each a match for ten thousand. With ample provisions in Jiangning, it can surely be held."

Seeing Li Jing in such a state, Sun Cheng's heart ached as well. Others had come over to the Southern Tang out of necessity, but Sun Cheng had come to the Southern Tang because he had genuinely grown to love the place.

In Sun Cheng's eyes, however much the Southern Tang was a separatist state, and however many faults Li Jing had, there was one good thing about him.

Compared with the Central Plains, where military men despised civil officials, the Southern Tang's Liezu Li Bian and his son, the Baoda Emperor Li Jing, had promoted culture and education, honored rites and ceremony, established schools, and opened the civil examinations — something rare indeed in these several hundred years.

That was why Sun Cheng cherished the Southern Tang so dearly. In history, when he was sent as an envoy to the Later Zhou and Guo Rong pressed him for the truth about the Southern Tang's strength and weakness, Sun Cheng refused to say a word.

Not until Guo Rong ordered the Chief Recipient of Edicts Cao Han to read out the decree condemning Sun Cheng to death did Sun Cheng straighten his robes and cap, bow toward the south, and say: "Your servant respectfully repays the state with his death!"

Li Jing had meant to rebuke Sun Cheng, for more than a hundred thousand men in all had been unable to defeat the Zhou army, and now with only a little over twenty thousand left, without the natural barrier of the Yangtze, they could only defend the Qinhuai River — what talk was there of being certain to hold?

But when Li Jing saw that Sun Cheng's eyes were bloodshot too, his face clouded with worry, the words of rebuke would not come out. He merely gave a bitter laugh and said:

"Lord Sun need not console me. The Zhou troops are fierce and keen, and I have only twenty thousand broken soldiers. How can the shallow Qinhuai River hold them back?"

Sun Cheng cupped his hands. "In this critical hour, why not grant Liu Renzhan full authority, letting him command all the armies west of the Huai, lead the Chaohu naval force to encamp upstream, and threaten the Zhou army's rear, so that the Zhou sovereign dares not act rashly?"

Li Jing thought for a short while, then slowly nodded, but immediately let out a long sigh.

"The Yao Yanhong father and son served three generations of emperors — Yizu, Liezu, and myself — yet at the first small setback, they took their whole clan and went over to Wuyue.

Liu Renzhan's father came from under the command of Prince Zhongwu. Now that the Yang family has fallen into Zhou hands, who can say whether this is fortune or disaster?"

At this, Sun Cheng could find nothing more to say. Li Jing's previous refusal to employ Liu Renzhan had in fact been based on practical considerations.

For Liu Renzhan's father, Liu Jin, had originally been a trusted confidant under Wu King Yang Xingmi, one of the famous Thirty-Six Heroes of Huainan, and Liu Renzhan's eldest brother, Liu Rengui, had even married Yang Xingmi's daughter.

Moreover, ever since Liu Renzhan's father Liu Jin had served as Militia Commissioner of Haozhou, most of the military posts in Shouzhou, Haozhou, and Sizhou had been occupied by old associates of the Liu family.

Liu Renzhan had originally been serving as Military Governor in Wuchang, and it was because Li Jing did not trust his elder brother Liu Rengui that he had transferred Liu Renzhan back.

For compared with Liu Rengui, who was Yang Xingmi's son-in-law, Liu Renzhan was at least somewhat more reliable.

And the Huang family, to which Huang Yannian, Military Governor of the Bao Xin Army in Luzhou, belonged, was in fact the Southern Tang court's nail planted west of the Huai to check the Liu family.

So unless driven to the last extremity, Li Jing would absolutely never hand Luzhou over to Liu Renzhan.

But at this moment, there was no room to worry about anything else.

Although Sun Cheng had proposed that Li Jing grant Liu Renzhan's request, in his heart he did not know whether Liu Renzhan was reliable either, and for a time sovereign and minister sat facing each other in silence.

Sun Cheng was about to say a few more words when he saw a rider galloping toward them from afar. The imperial guards on either side at once formed a defensive formation and shielded Li Jing and Sun Cheng in the middle.

Li Jing, terrified beyond measure, thought the Zhou iron cavalry had come charging down upon them and trembled all over. It was Sun Cheng whose eyes were sharp; he recognized at once that the newcomer was no Zhou iron cavalry, but Han Xizai.

"Shuyan, what makes you so frantic? Galloping a horse before the imperial presence is a grave offense!"

Once Sun Cheng saw clearly who it was, he immediately shouted out in a loud voice. Li Jing too saw that the newcomer was Han Xizai, and at last his legs stopped quaking.

Han Xizai's eyes brimmed with tears. He prostrated himself in a grand salute upon the ground and said in a choked voice: "Great joy for the Sage, great joy!"

At the word "great joy," Li Jing came back to life at once. He pushed aside the armored guards around him and ran up to Han Xizai, asking impatiently: "What joy is there? Has the Zhou army been blocked by the troops west of the Huai?"

Han Xizai shook his head and said in a loud voice: "The Zhou sovereign has already led his troops to Hezhou, but he has not crossed the river at once.

He even composed a poem on Jilong Mountain, which goes: 'Ten thousand li of chariots and books all merged as one; how can Jiangnan have a separate border and fief? Leading a million troops up to West Lake, reining his horse on the first peak of Wushan.'"

"'Ten thousand li of chariots and books all merged as one; how can Jiangnan have a separate border and fief? Leading a million troops up to West Lake, reining his horse on the first peak of Wushan.'" Li Jing immediately recited it back — this poem of Zhang Zhao's that Han Xizai had declaimed.

Setting other matters aside, in poetry alone, Li Jing, who could write "Fine rain, dreaming back to Jisai far away; in the small tower the jade flute plays through the cold. How many teardrops, endless regret, leaning on the railing," was himself a master of verse.

He recited it once and at once felt the subtle excellence of this poem that Zhang Zhao had "composed." Li Jing sighed in admiration.

"A fine poem! What overbearing spirit! Truly a mighty sovereign who rose from Hexi, with one old servant to aid him, and in fifteen years won more than half the realm. I am not his equal!"

Strange as it was, though others had said ten thousand times that Zhang Zhao was fearsome, and though the Zhou army had slain in succession more than a hundred thousand of the Southern Tang's finest, Zhang Zhao's image in Li Jing's mind had remained vague.

But the moment this poem appeared, it was as if Zhang Zhao were there in midair, gazing down at him with awe-inspiring majesty. Li Jing's heart grew heavy, and even breathing seemed to become difficult.

Sun Cheng, whose literary attainments were somewhat lesser, did not perceive the poem's deeper meaning. Hearing that Han Xizai had come galloping over merely to recite a poem by Zhang Zhao, he felt utterly baffled.

"Shuyan speaks of great joy — where does the joy lie?"

But before Han Xizai could answer, Li Jing let out a long, deep breath.

"The Zhou sovereign is going to return north. He is warning me, and warning Qian Zuo as well!

If he meant to destroy our Great Tang, he would not have written of leading troops to West Lake and reining his horse on Wushan; he would have written of leading troops to the Qinhuai and reining his horse on Jiangshan."

"The Sage sees clearly. I hear that Qian Zuo, not content with taking in Yao Yanhong, actually dared to send word to the Zhou sovereign, saying he wished to send troops to attack our state in a pincer.

Yet earlier, when he went to pay tribute to the Zhou sovereign, he sent only a fifth-rank official — clearly not very respectful.

The Zhou sovereign has a strong enemy in the north, and the northerners are unaccustomed to the heat and damp of Jiangnan. If he took Jiangning, in the end it would only benefit Wuyue.

By then the Qian family would hold all of Jiangnan, and the Gao family of Nanping would seize Wuchang — that he surely does not wish to see. That is why he wrote of leading troops to West Lake and reining his horse on Wushan, to rap Qian Zuo on the knuckles." Han Xizai, overjoyed, went on in agreement with Li Jing.

Li Jing nodded in even greater approval. "'Ten thousand li of chariots and books all merged as one; how can Jiangnan have a separate border and fief' — the Zhou sovereign is saying that he will surely unify the realm. That is his ambition, and Wuyue is no exception.

The last two lines are a warning, telling Qian Zuo not to seize too much territory, since in any case he will one day rein his horse on Wushan."

It must be said that Li Jing's interpretation was a case of a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse. Zhang Zhao himself would probably have been dumbfounded to hear it.

He wrote this poem because he had plagiarized it. With the little ink Sage Zhang had in him, ask him to cut people down and he had no problem now, but ask him to write a poem — even just to revise one — and in a pinch, he could not do it.

But then again, Li Jing interpreting it this way wasn't really a problem.

Because right now, Zhang Zhao did want him to kneel and beg for mercy. That was the strange thing about it.

At this moment, Li Jing had also come to terms with it. Having experienced the horror of his wife and children being slaughtered in the nightmare, and then being shaken by Zhang Zhao's poem, Li Jing—who was rather susceptible to such things—only wanted to save his life right now.

"Summon Feng Yanlu at once!" Li Jing shouted to the inner attendant beside him, then said to Han Xizai.

"Would Shuyan be willing to ride through the night with Feng Yanlu to Caishiji to meet the Lord of Zhou, and say that I, Li Jing, am willing to make amends for having alarmed the lands of Song and Xu?"

When Han Xizai heard Li Jing call him Shuyan, he could not help recalling the days when Li Jing was still a prince and the two had enjoyed a close lord-minister bond, and he was deeply moved.

"Your servant is willing. Even if it means death, I will do my utmost to persuade the Lord of Zhou to turn back."

When the news reached Qianyue, Qian Zuo, who was in the western prefecture of Hangzhou, was equally dumbfounded.

It was like a child who had played a little trick and acted tough, expecting at most a scolding, only to be slapped hard across the face by his loving father—that kind of dazed confusion.

Seeing Qian Zuo stunned, the Grand General of Qianyue, Hu Jinsi—who had the privilege of wearing his sword and shoes in court—pressed his hand on his sword hilt, stared straight at Qian Zuo, and bellowed.

"For two generations, our Great Kings of Wuyue have paid tribute and submitted to the Son of Heaven of the Central Plains. The land of Wuyue is also the land of the state. Otherwise, how could these two military provinces have survived?

Now that the Great Zhou's Shaoming Emperor has become lord of the Central Plains, yet the Great King has still not received his investiture. Your servant requests that the Great King select an envoy to go to Yangzhou and pay court.

If the Son of Heaven commands us to attack Wu-Tang from both sides, then we shall attack from both sides. If the Son of Heaven tells us to keep to our proper place, then we shall keep to our proper place."

In this speech of Hu Jinsi's, there were actually only two pieces of information he wanted to convey: first, that Qian Zuo had not yet received investiture from the new dynasty, which damaged his legal standing; and second, to keep to one's proper place.

As for the state of Qianyue—how to put it—it was actually, among the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, the one most like the Great Tang or the two Han dynasties.

Because its founding king, Qian Liu, was a native of the western prefecture of Hangzhou, and what he relied on was also the great local clans of Hangzhou and the Eight Capital Army they had formed.

While Qian Liu was alive, he had recruited the surrendered troops of Sun Ru as the Wuyong Capital, making them his military governor's yabing guards, intending to use them to balance the local magnates.

But these Wuyong Capital troops, composed of men from Caizhou, could not completely suppress the Eight Capital Army formed by the locals.

Even while Qian Liu was still alive, the struggle between the two sides was extremely fierce, and the Wuyong Capital even responded with rebellion several times.

Thus the throne of the King of Qianyue was actually seated atop the external military faction centered on the Wuyong Capital and the local magnates under the banner of the Eight Capital Army, existing by pressing down on the seesaw between these two sides.

This chronic ailment that even the founding king could not resolve was, of course, equally unresolvable by the later Qian Yuanguan.

By the time it reached Qian Zuo's hands, he was young and ambitious—one might also say somewhat unaware of his own limits—and therefore intent on breaking free of this political situation.

Intervening in Wang Min, killing Du Zhaoda, killing Kan Fan—these were all signals of Qian Zuo's effort to clean house domestically.

This time, taking in Yao Yanzhang and going to attack Changzhou in the Southern Tang was also for the purpose of using the opportunity of outward expansion to consolidate power and raise his prestige.

But these actions of Qian Zuo's not only harmed the interests of the local magnates, but also harmed the interests of the gradually localizing Wuyong Capital.

The powerful factions in the state were already extremely dissatisfied with him, and so Hu Jinsi was using this opportunity to teach Qian Zuo a lesson.

The fire in Qian Zuo's eyes flashed and vanished, but he still knew that the wrath of the Central Plains court was something he could not bear, so Qian Zuo forced a smile.

"The Grand General speaks truly. I shall immediately send envoys with tribute to pay respects to the Shaoming Son of Heaven."

However, Qian Zuo thought he had hidden that flash of fury in his eyes very well, but he was ultimately a young monarch. The fury in his eyes was seen not only by Hu Jinsi, but also by the civil and military officials of both factions below.

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