Chapter 593: The Dawn of Unifying the Realm

What a fine book…

By the Yellow River, Fu Yanqing was crossing with his eldest son, Fu Zhaoxin.

Fu Zhaoxin, only about ten years old, was making his first trip to the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, so he was very excited and curious about everything.

The greatest trait of military men in the Five Dynasties was that they married and had children relatively late.

Fu Yanqing, for example, was born in the second year of Qianning under Emperor Zhaozong of Tang (895), the same age as Liu Zhiyuan, and was now fifty-one.

But his eldest child, his first daughter, the elder Fu, was only sixteen, and his eldest son, Fu Zhaoxin, was only ten.

The other two famous fierce generals of Hebei, who were Fu Yanqing's equals in renown, were even more extreme. Gao Xingzhou was born in the first year of Guangqi under Emperor Xizong of Tang (885) and was sixty-one this year, yet his eldest son, Gao Huaide, was only twenty, and his eldest daughter, Gao E'niang, only seventeen.

An Shenqi was forty-nine this year, and his eldest son, An Shouzhong, was only fourteen.

This was even later marriage and childbearing than people of later generations!

But this was also out of necessity. A military man who licked blood from the edge of a blade had to seize his youth and strength to rise to prominence quickly; otherwise, what awaited him in old age was a body full of injuries and illness, plus poverty and destitution.

The Five Dynasties was a golden age for military men, but this golden age also brought with it a great deal of disorder.

Even men with family backgrounds, courage, and martial prowess like Gao Xingzhou, Fu Yanqing, and An Shenqi faced the possibility of losing their lives at any moment.

Fu Yanqing's elder brother Fu Yanchao and younger brother Fu Yanrao were both murdered in the prime of life, and Gao Xingzhou's father and uncles all died in the army. The disorder of the Five Dynasties, from top to bottom, can be seen from this.

Fu Yanqing's trip to the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, was for a very important matter, because the news coming from beyond the frontier was growing more and more urgent. Liu Zhiyuan had clearly already colluded with the Khitan.

And in the Central Plains, the Hexi Army under the Son of Heaven had campaigned continuously for several years and was homesick to the extreme. Half the men had to be released to return home to visit their families, and in the short term it simply had no strength to launch a major war.

Of course, the most important thing was that after the Emperor had selected his eldest daughter and Gao Xingzhou's eldest daughter as consorts, there had been no further action.

Even the young lady of the Kang family had had a simple ceremony held and been received into the palace, yet the daughters of the Fu and Gao families were still being raised in their family mansions.

Of course, Zhang Zhao had also given an explanation, saying that only after a high-standard ceremony was held would the daughters of the Fu and Gao families enter the palace.

Fu Yanqing gazed at the vast river and sighed. What high-standard ceremony was this really about?

The Emperor's meaning was that the Fu and Gao families should come forward on their own initiative, representing the yabing guards and yabing officers of the Hebei military families, and make clear to the Emperor where they would go from here.

Only after it was clearly agreed what could be touched and what could not, what powers they could ask for and what powers they could not, would the Emperor choose to bring the Hebei military families into the court.

Otherwise, Fu Yanqing's heart skipped a beat. Judging by the Son of Heaven's intent, he would not hesitate to send the Hebei military families who still wanted to play the old game over to Liu Zhiyuan's side, and then, in the decisive battle between Hedong and Hexi, sweep them clean completely.

So not long after crossing the Yellow River, just as he reached Fengqiu, Fu Yanqing encountered Gao Xingzhou.

Gao Xingzhou had arrived with the heroes of the northern mountains, who had been deeply bound to the Gao family since the time of Emperor Wu, Li Keyong.

An Shenqi also brought his fourteen-year-old eldest son, An Shouzhong, along with a considerable number of the the Shatuo and Sogdian local magnates.

Even Huangfu Yu's nephew, Huangfu Chong, arrived with Huangfu Yu's ten-year-old eldest son, Huangfu Jie, and thirty or forty heroes of Zhending.

In the past, he, Fu Yanqing, together with Gao Xingzhou and Huangfu Yu, had been the famous Three Generals of Hebei. At least half of the military families and fortified-manor magnates of Hebei had very close ties with them.

An Shenqi's clansmen mostly lived on Mount Taihang, at the border of Hedong and Hebei, and also had great influence in both Hedong and Hebei.

The group had not expected to meet here, so they quickly gathered and sat together, strained several measures of wine, cut some mutton and mutton offal, and began to talk.

Gao Xingzhou, the eldest among them, suddenly drained a large bowl of wine, then wiped the wine from his beard and spoke with deep feeling.

"I joined the army at twenty, and it has been nearly fifty years now. I have seen my father and uncles die miserably, and I have seen brothers and companions killed.

I once thought the Emperor of the Ancestral Temple was the hero who would end this chaotic age. Who would have thought!"

When Fu Yanqing heard Gao Xingzhou mention Li Cunxu, he too suddenly gulped down a large mouthful of wine.

Gao Xingzhou's father, Gao Siji, and his two brothers had been wrongly executed by Emperor Wu, Li Keyong, so his feelings toward Li Cunxu of the Ancestral Temple were quite limited.

But Fu Yanqing was different. His father, Fu Cunshen, had originally been named Li Cunshen and was one of the Thirteen Grand Guardians of the Prince of Jin, Li Keyong.

Because of this, Fu Yanqing, at the same age as Fu Zhaoxin, had attended upon Li Cunxu, who was more than ten years his senior.

Li Cunxu treated him like a blood brother, and their bond was very deep.

Fu Yanqing could not help but sigh. "If the Ancestral Temple still stood, the realm would surely have been settled long ago, would it not?"

As the most orthodox representative of the Daibei and Hedong military men, An Shenqi nodded in strong agreement.

"When I sent men back to my hometown to make inquiries, all I saw was that the land of Hedong still follows the old ways of years past.

Generals are arrogant and soldiers are unruly; the officials of prefectures and counties are mere figureheads. The common people either hide deep in the mountains or attach themselves to fortified manors to survive.

Liu Zhiyuan's ambitions are no different from those of the military governors and commanders of one or two hundred years ago.

If he became Son of Heaven, I fear the realm would again be thrown into turmoil, and who knows when peace would come.

Yet the registered population today is less than half of what it was when the Ancestral Temple entered Luoyang. If the chaos continues like this, either we will become slaves of foreign peoples, or our descendants will.

I am truly somewhat weary of this meaningless killing and fighting."

Fu Yanqing smiled bitterly. Whether it was because he thought of Li Cunxu, or of his elder brother Fu Yanchao and younger brother Fu Yanrao, who had been killed amid the chaos of the army, tears seemed to glimmer in his eyes.

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He turned to look at the other side, where Fu Zhaoxin, An Shouzhong, and Huangfu Jie, all of similar age, were laughing and playing.

"Since the great dynasty declined, there has been chaos for two hundred years. Now that a sage lord has appeared, let this age of chaos end at our hands!

Let these children enjoy wealth and honor like Cheng Gonghuailiang and Qin Gonghuaidao."

Cheng Huailiang was the son of Cheng Yaojin, and Qin Huaidao was the son of Qin Shubao. These two had no achievements worth mentioning, but thanks to their fathers' protection, they enjoyed high office and rich emoluments all their lives, as carefree as could be.

Now Zhang Zhao's Complete Heroes of the Great Tang had swept across both sides of the Great Wall and the length of the great rivers, and even old-timers like Fu Yanqing had begun to compare themselves to the heroes in the Complete Heroes.

In a man's life, after a lifetime of struggle, is not his greatest wish to support his parents above, bring honor to his wife in the middle, and shelter his descendants below?

When Fu Yanqing said this, Gao Xingzhou and An Shenqi both laughed along, and the faint trace of dissatisfaction in their hearts at having to hand over the power they had entrenched in their regions finally vanished like smoke.

An Shenqi even teased Gao Xingzhou, saying, "If my son could have the circumstances of Cheng Huailiang, that would already be fortune beyond what heaven grants.

But your family's Cangyong, in days to come, if he is not a Huo Piaoyao, then he must be a hero like Dou Wenhou!"

In the eleventh month, as Gao Xingzhou, Fu Yanqing, An Shenqi, and the relatives and old friends of the Huangfu family arrived outside the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, Zhang Zhao finally began preparations to receive the elder Fu and Gao E'niang into the palace.

Two such delicate, charming young ladies, with the added allure of status and history — how could I, Sage Zhang, not desire them?

But he knew that with beauties of such family background, he had to be cautious.

If in Henan the wilds had few commoners and fortified manors of magnates dotted the land, then in Hebei the wilds had no commoners at all — only fortified manors of magnates.

Moreover, the fortified manors of the Henan region generally held only a few hundred to a thousand people, able to field one or two hundred able-bodied men at most, with a few battered bamboo armor pieces and wooden shields counting as decent equipment.

But in Hebei, the fortified manors often linked together in stretches, with heavy intermarriage between several manors, and local yabing guards and even yabing officers took part as well.

They watched over and aided one another, and could readily mobilize over a thousand able-bodied men. Their armor was not necessarily excellent, but it was certainly better than that of the steppe herders, and they also largely kept the custom of mounted archery.

Moreover, between the fortified manors there existed, as binding links, a great number of archery societies and spear-and-staff societies. Though their numbers were small, their martial strength was formidable.

Except when faced with a conflict on the scale of the Later Jin–Liao war, against which they were powerless, they did not fear in the slightest any small force, whether the imperial guards of the court or Khitan cavalry raiding south.

Had it not been for them, with the Khitan holding the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan-Yun for so long in history, could Hebei have fared well at all?

Even into the Northern Song period, under the suppression of the Zhao court, the martial spirit of Hebei was never completely stamped out—otherwise a hero like Yue Wumu would never have emerged, and the pudao saber would not have been found everywhere.

Therefore, taking Lady Fu and Lady Gao into the family was, in fact, one and the same matter as drawing the Hebei magnates into the court.

As far as Zhang Zhao was concerned, he was willing, to a certain extent, to guarantee the continued existence of Hebei's martial spirit—after all, sweeping the great desert clean and crushing Wang-ruled Goryeo would still require their strength.

But Zhang Zhao certainly could not accept the present situation. Sage Zhang had already resolved in his heart: if the local magnates of Hebei did not come and bow their heads, did not take the initiative to merge into the newborn Great Zhou state,

then he would rather push these people over to Liu Zhiyuan's side, and then spend some time sweeping them, together with Liu Zhiyuan, into the rubbish heap of history.

Still, Zhang Zhao had a fair idea of how things stood, because he had arrived at a good moment.

Gao Xingzhou, Fu Yanqing, An Shenqi, and even Huangfu Yu, who had died for his country—although morally each of them had problems of one kind or another,

their flaws did not obscure their merits. These leaders of the Hebei military houses still had a bottom line and held firm on the question of loyalty.

They could also understand Zhang Zhao's difficulties as an emperor determined to end the chaos of the age, and they clearly knew Zhang Zhao's resolve.

This was, of all the Five Dynasties military governors, almost the era richest in loyal ministers and righteous men.

Therefore, when word arrived that Gao Xingzhou, Fu Yanqing, An Shenqi, and the members of the Huangfu family had reached Fengqiu, Zhang Zhao was extremely excited.

He seized Lady Cao Sanniang, who was beside him sorting documents for him, and spun her around in several whooshing circles.

Lady Cao Sanniang was likewise extremely stirred, and a light of adoration shot from her eyes.

"Your servant congratulates Erlang. Since ancient times, the unrest of the realm's military men has begun first in the three garrisons of Hebei, next in the yabing guards of Huainan, and last in the strategically advantageous land of Hedong.

Now in Huainan, with the death of Hu Cile and the land equalization in Chuzhou, the threat remains only in the three prefectures of Hao, Si, and Shou. Of these, Hao and Si are no more than fish on the chopping block, and Shouzhou alone cannot stand.

With Gao, Fu, and An bringing their kin, friends, and old associates into the court, the land of Hebei will at last return to the court's control.

Only Hedong remains—a narrow land with few people, and Liu Zhiyuan is aging and decrepit, by no means a match for Erlang.

Since the decline of the Great Tang, the realm's military provinces carving out their own domains and military men running rampant and lawless—this state of affairs is about to be brought to an end in the Sage's hands."

"Hahahaha!" Zhang Zhao was both delighted and moved.

"Among the founding sovereigns of history, Emperor Gaozu of Han unified the realm in only seven years.

Emperor Guangwu of Han likewise rose from humble origins, and needed only twelve years.

Emperor Taizong of the Great Tang, assisting Emperor Gaozu in unifying the realm, likewise took no more than ten years.

I, Zhang Zhao, counting from the second year of Changxing of the Later Tang, when I traveled far to Anxi, have now spent fifteen years. In fifteen years, to say nothing of unifying the realm, I have not even secured half the country.

Never in any dynasty has there been a founding sovereign in such dire straits. Only today have I finally glimpsed the first light of dawn."

Creak—the study door was pushed open. It was Empress Cao Yanxi carrying in a plate of melons. She looked at Zhang Zhao with glistening eyes, making no effort to hide her protective intent.

"In Emperor Gaozu of Han's time, the tyrannical Qin's laws were harsh, the hearts of the six states did not submit, and the realm had long suffered under Qin. And the main strength of the Qin army was in fact destroyed by the Hegemon-King of Chu—that was why Gaozu won the realm so quickly.

By the Later Han, Wang Mang had usurped the throne and acted perversely, losing the people's hearts. First came the Lulin and Chimei rebellions, then the Gengshi Emperor raised the great banner, and Emperor Guangwu even cast aside his wife from humble days to marry into the Guo clan—only thus did he win the realm in twelve years.

Emperor Taizong of the Great Tang came from a great clan of the Guanlong region, and that he could win the realm in ten years was not only because Emperor Taizong was a heaven-sent sovereign of genius—

in fact it was by hiding behind the realm's assembled heroes, staying far from the strife, and quietly building up strength in secret, only sending troops out into the realm after Guanzhong had grown rich and prosperous.

Only my husband started from nothing, and everything from west to east was won through hard struggle. And he must also reverse the realm's prevailing customs and restore the rites of Zhou to set the rules. Even if he takes twenty years to win the realm, he is still an outstanding sovereign for all the ages."

Sure enough, it was his own wife who was most considerate. When Sage Zhang heard this, he was so pleased his nose practically bubbled.

At this time Cao Yanxi had just given birth to a son. Though she had only just finished her month of confinement and her body had not yet recovered, the empress's domineering air was not diminished in the least.

"Tomorrow, have Xincun'er take Jing'er out of the city to welcome the Hebei contingent.

Order Li Fang to notify Guo Tiance, and have the Bureau of Military Affairs organize the polo teams of the six guards of the personal army, the seven garrisons of the outer regions, the Left and Right Divine Guard Armies, and the garrison armies of each garrison.

We shall hold a polo match on the drill grounds west of the city to celebrate the Hebei generals' return to the state."

Jing'er was Zhang Zhao's fourth son, and also the legitimate son born to Cao Yanxi—Zhang Xianjing.

Hearing Zhang Zhao give these instructions, Lady Cao Sanniang Yannai and Empress Cao Shijiu Niang Yanxi, the two sisters, exchanged a glance, both filled with indescribable delight.

These two sisters had lately been clinging to Zhang Zhao precisely because the Hebei contingent was about to arrive, and they feared Zhang Zhao would send his eldest son Zhang Xiancun to welcome the Hebei military houses.

The greatest threat to the two sisters now was their young aunt Li Ruoliu, whose favor showed no sign of waning.

The young aunt had a constitution prone to pregnancy, and she was good at bearing boys. She had already borne Zhang Zhao three princes: the eldest son Zhang Xiancun and the second son Zhang Xianzhao were both born of Li Ruoliu.

Moreover, the eldest son Zhang Xiancun was brilliantly talented in letters, his painting already beginning to enter the hall of the masters, and he was modest, courteous, and handsome in bearing, with an excellent reputation both at court and in the provinces. Zhang Zhao was also very fond of him.

This had in fact already posed no small threat to Zhang Xianjing's position.

So the two Cao sisters had secretly been doing everything they could to make Zhang Zhao take more notice of Zhang Xianjing, who was just over three years old, and to let father and son spend as much time together as possible.

In places Zhang Zhao did not notice, the palace struggle had in fact already begun.

Polo—this game was certainly not invented by the English, but because of the question of who holds the power of discourse, Western propaganda has forcibly made it seem as though Chinese people did not play polo, as though it were the patent of Western gentlemen.

But in fact, as early as the Han dynasty, polo was already extremely popular.

Because it is an excellent way to train horsemanship, practice coordination, foster camaraderie and competition among soldiers, and maintain the custom of mounted archery among the people.

So how could Zhang Zhao not value it? And it was not merely a matter of valuing it—Zhang Zhao personally set the detailed rules for polo.

He also ordered all the personal armies, imperial guards, capital garrison armies, and local garrison armies to form polo teams, and he established a polo league competition system.

When there was no fighting, the polo league was the soldiers' best pastime.

And through more than a year of development, beyond the army, many polo teams had also formed among the common people.

Even the Eastern Capital, under the organization of Kaifeng Prefect Xue Juzheng, had formed a civilian polo league, and their points-based matches were even more numerous than the army's, because they had no concerns about combat duties.

Zhang Zhao was also considering promoting certain outstanding civilian teams into the army's league competition, forming a two-tier competition system.

What those above favor, those below will surely imitate. But Zhang Zhao still did not understand enough—among the common people, it was not merely a matter of polo teams appearing; in fact, women's polo teams had already appeared among the people.

Moreover, because of the Emperor's well-known fondness for long-legged beauties, and because polo requires women to be tall and long-legged, recently in the Eastern Capital — at least over the past half year — long-legged ladies, whom people had previously not much cared for, had suddenly become highly sought after.

Any family's young daughter who was tall and long-legged would certainly be recommended to learn polo. Whether she played well or not was unimportant; at the very least she had to be able to mount a horse, swing the mallet, and know what polo was all about.

Because after that, it became very easy for her to marry into a military family that had come from Hexi.

Sage Zhang had brought only so many Hexi personal troops and imperial guards to the Central Plains, and even fewer of them were unmarried. Knowing how to play polo was practically the stepping-stone for a commoner family's daughter to marry into the household of a junior officer or a warrior-rank official.

Even the horse markets of the Eastern Capital soared as a result. Horses that had once been rare, because of the great increase in demand, saw their costs come down and gradually made their way into the homes of commoners who had begun to settle down and had acquired a bit of property.

That day, upon arriving at the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, the Hebei yabing officers and local magnates received a grand welcome and lavish hospitality from the court. Not only did the court's Chief Ministers and high officials all attend,

Zhang Zhao's six adopted sons — the Marquis of Shicheng, Zhang Liecheng; the Duke of Qinghai Commandery, Murong Xinzhang; the Duke of Shouchang Commandery, Li Cunhui; the Count of Yinzhou, Zhe Deyuan; the Count of Dunqiu, Zhao Yanjin; and the Left Jinwu Guard Yuhou, Yang Jiye — also came to offer their congratulations.

The banquet was of a scale rarely seen in history, and the guests were also directly lodged in the Chu Garden within the inner city, close to the imperial palace.

On the surface, of course, Zhang Zhao would not say that these Hebei yabing officers and local magnates had come to discuss state affairs with him. The pretext used was that the Emperor was taking Lady Da Fu and Lady Gao E as consorts, and moreover it was Empress Cao Yanxi who came forward to say that it should be celebrated with great fanfare.

Thus, when the Later Shu Supervising Secretary Li Xiaofeng arrived at the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, escorted and accompanied by the Brocade Robe Imperial Guards, what he saw was precisely this grand spectacle.

Li Xiaofeng was utterly shaken. If one spoke of wealth, the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, could not compare to Chengdu, which had enjoyed long years of peace and was situated in the Land of Abundance. But the Eastern Capital, Kaifeng Prefecture, possessed a grandeur and boldness that Chengdu lacked.

On the road, Li Xiaofeng had already discovered that in Shu, it was rumored that Guanzhong and the Central Plains had suffered disaster after disaster, with endless warfare, and were already quite ruined, the people unable to make a living.

But what Li Xiaofeng saw was this: the common people were indeed not very well off. In many places, even having enough to eat was still a problem, and many people could only stave off hunger with wild vegetables mixed with a little grain.

But this was not caused by the Zhou court. On the contrary, Zhou officials had been continuously engaged in disaster relief.

And the method of this disaster relief was not to go and directly distribute grain to the people. As long as there was no large-scale starvation, they did not concern themselves with that.

What the officials concerned themselves with, instead, was the sowing of winter wheat and preparations for next year's cultivation. In places where conditions allowed, they were also organizing the people to repair irrigation works.

These people knew what they were doing!

Li Xiaofeng understood very well that this year's farming was already ruined. Distributing rations to the people could only relieve the immediate emergency; organizing the restoration of cultivation and the repair of irrigation works was the fundamental solution.

Therefore, all along the way, what Li Xiaofeng saw on the faces of the people of Guanzhong was not anguish over this year's poor harvest, but longing for next year's abundance.

And after passing Luoyang and reaching the Eastern Capital, Li Xiaofeng had yet another impression. The people here were far better off than those in Guanzhong and elsewhere.

All around, there were many meritorious officials who had followed the dragon from Hexi and settled here, so the countryside was also relatively prosperous.

In addition, with the various projects underway — building palace cities, restoring the city, dredging river channels, and constructing irrigation works — even in winter, the area from Luoyang to the Eastern Capital was bustling with activity.

The common people might be so exhausted they lay like dead dogs and did not want to move, but there were absolutely none who starved to death.

"Hey there, young lad, move aside quickly! Watch out, or my Snow-Flyer will crash into you!"

Li Xiaofeng was still standing in the middle of the road outside the city, lost in reflection, when unexpectedly a mounted troop of at least twenty riders came charging past with a great clatter.

On horseback were women dressed entirely in men's clothing, their two round, long legs exposed on either side of the horse.

The woman in the lead was tall and slender, with features as delicate as a painting, yet brimming with heroic spirit. This was different from the usual feminine softness, and it instantly caught Li Xiaofeng's eye.

At that moment he was not wearing Shu official robes, and the Brocade Robe Imperial Guards escorting him were also dressed as traveling merchants. An old man nearby, leading a donkey, saw Li Xiaofeng's gaze and hastily warned him.

"Young lord, you'd best stop looking. Be careful, or she'll come over and beat you!"

"She dares to strike a man? A mere woman dares to strike a husband?"

Li Xiaofeng's eyes went wide, his face full of disbelief.

Of course, here "husband" did not have the later meaning of a woman's spouse; it was the literal meaning, referring to a man.

The old man's face took on a look of watching a joke unfold. "Why wouldn't she dare? This is a tigress from Hexi — the Fourteenth Lady of the Cao family of Shazhou.

Last time, the brother-in-law of the Prince of Nanping's heir offended her, and she pinned him down and gave him a good beating. She's fierce, all right! Why don't you try shouting a few times and see?"

Ahem...! Li Xiaofeng gave a dry cough and said no more.

Everything about this Eastern Capital was fine, except there were too many horses. It was one thing for men to ride and shoot, but women also liked riding and shooting, and they spoke in extremely loud voices, often wore men's clothing while roaming about, and slaughtered pigs and sheep as skillfully as butchers in Shu.

Beautiful they certainly were, but truly somewhat frightening. Perhaps in the glorious years of the Great Tang, those fierce women recorded in the histories had comported themselves just like this.

At this thought, Li Xiaofeng hastily retreated to a street corner, gazed at the distant walls of the Eastern Capital, and said to the Brocade Robe Imperial Guards escorting him.

"I must trouble you, sir, to go and announce us. We shall change into official robes and caps right here and await the arrangements of Minister Feng of the Ministry of Rites."

Before long, a Vice Director came out from the city to receive them. "Minister Feng has instructed me to inform the Supervising Secretary that the envoy of Shu shall lodge together with the Deputy Military Governor of Jingnan, Lord Gao Baorong; the younger brother of the King of Chu and Deputy Military Governor of Wu'an Army, Lord Ma Xiguang; the Southern Tang envoy and Military Governor of Zhenhai Army in Runzhou, Lord Li Jingda; and the Wuyue envoy and Minister of Rites, Pei Jian, at the Yongding Palace east of the city."

Li Xiaofeng opened his mouth, very much wanting to refuse, because this meant lodging him together with envoys from other states.

But those envoys had all actually come to pay homage to the Zhou Son of Heaven — yet he was not!

However, in the end Li Xiaofeng did not voice it, because he understood very well that for a mere Supervising Secretary like himself, if he did not know his place, there would be consequences.